MapleStory: Warrior Brothers
by Kierany9
Summary: Follow the adventures of three warriors and then some other random people as they explore the world of Maple Story. Unfortunately, their quest always goes horribly wrong on every turn whether it be evil siblings, the Black Mage, hot chicks or just some random and crazy event. Rated T for 'mild' language and violence.
1. Prologue

**NOTICE: This chapter is the revised version of the original chapter 1. Also, chapters 2 through 5 have been revised.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own MapleStory or its characters (owned by Nexon) except my own OC's. These include: Kero Mizrak, Daniel Indigo, "The boy" and "The girl"**

**CHAPTER 1: Prologue  
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><p>The young warrior sat in patience waiting for his turn to come. He was spinning his sword, a Viking Sword to be exact, on one finger and tapping his shield on the floor with the other hand. He had accepted the challenge of entering a beginner warriors tournament to fight, not sit on a bench.<p>

_"Kero and Daniel, please enter the arena"_

"Finally..." he muttered to himself as he put on his Blue Sergeant armour and kilt. He walked into the arena, forgetting his helmet on the bench and saw his opponent. His name was Daniel Indigo. Everyone used to mock him for his whacky surname until he beat the hell out of a second-job fighter. He would bully a lot of the weaker warriors. That had happened many times to Kero when he was younger, but he had quickly grown a lot stronger but wasn't quite at his level. He wondered how bad he would feel when he woke up from unconsciousness when Daniel used a mace on his head.

_"The fight shall commence in 3...2...1...NOW!"_

The two warriors charged at each over and yelled a battle cry

Kero taunted his opponent as a mace was unleashed, but Kero was faster and dodged. He then took a powerful kick to the stomach. He recovered, but too late as a mace hit his face.

"Darn, one more hit and I'm history..." he thought to himself as he barely avoided a heavy blow to the face. He then jumped up high and struck down, only to be blocked. Daniel raised his foot and sent a flying kick straight into Kero's chest. He reeled back and countered with another kick. Aiming straight at Daniel's crotch.

"Owch! Darn you!" said his opponent as he ducked, avoiding another attack. Daniel somersaulted over Kero and hit him with his mace, straight into the back. Kero fell to the floor and coughed up a couple of drops of crimson. Kero dragged himself up and replied with a rapid barrage of slashes. He smiled as he landed a hit, cutting open his enemy's cheek. Kero smiled, yet the wound merely fizzled with orange bubbles and shut.

"What the hell? Hacks?" asked Kero.

"How can you hack the universe. Stop speaking nonsense and prepare to lose!"

A blue aura began covering Daniel as he breathed in heavily. He raised his mace and looked as if he could go berserk any moment.

"That's the Power Strike!" Kero muttered. "Sure is, you dumb little novice. See you next month, when you wake up from your coma!" he laughed

He looked at some of the other warriors, the ones who were paying attention looked genuinely worried for him. He realized one of the strongest first-job warriors was charging at him and his head was floating away in the clouds. He put up his shield and sword and prayed for the best.

**_CLANK!_**

He opened his eyes and saw the mace pushing against his shield and sword. Daniels eyes were full of fury. Kero let off a big grin and knocked his mace several meters away. Daniels eyes widened. He clenched his fists and pulled out a short sword, yet before he knew it, Kero had his sword at neck point. Kero expected him to spit out a ton of curses and slashes, but instead, he ran off in tears.

_"Daniel looses by forfeit. Kero wins the match!" said the instructor. "Ten minute intermission before round two"_

He walked out of the arena and some other warriors congratulated him. Some gave him a pat on the back, others a hand shake or a high five. He smiled. He felt invincible. He thought of how he had just won. He had decided. He had decided that he will become the strongest warrior ever! No one shall ever beat him! He then tripped on a rock and hit his head on the hard concrete floor. He cursed and the world began fading as he fell asleep.

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><p>A young warrior sat on a rocky ledge overlooking the town of Perion, getting some fresh air with the Warrior Sanctuary behind him. He had been crying. Daniel Indigo spat out a curse and decided he would get revenge. Not just any revenge. He had found an old Skill Book in a house called "Chaos Resurrection". He dusted off the cover just as a loud shout announced the start of round two. He wondered who would be the one to kick Kero's sorry ass.<p>

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><p>Kero Mizrak slowly opened his eyes to see two people; one was a boy about his age, with a Viking Sword and Red Sergeant Armour. His hair was a mess. He laughed at him but then looked at his own hair. It was pretty much the same. The other was a young girl in Sky blue "Shark" armour. She had curly brown hair that was tied back.<p>

"Where am I?" Kero asked in confusion.

"Warrior Sanctuary medical bay" said the boy, as if waiting for him to ask.

"And why exactly are you waiting for me to get up?" he asked. "Considering how you sent that asshole Daniel into a tantrum..."

"Good point. And you?" Kero asked, looking at the girl. "I...ummm..." "She's a great healer and potion maker. And a fighter." The boy finished for her. Kero frowned.

"Oh well. Round two here I come!" he shouted as he hopped out of bed. "Oh and watch out for the she-"

**CRASH!**

"...that has seriously got to hurt" the boy muttered as Kero crashed head first into the shelf above him.

"At least he wasn't KO'ed like the last time he hit his head" the girl said.

"Remind me to check the date...I think it might be Friday 13th Kero said as he walked out into the hallway...

"Maybe we should tell him he's in his underpants" the girl said. The boy doubled up in laughter as the warrior walked into the hallway half-naked.

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><p>Kero, now in full armour, walked down the hallway towards the battle arena. He saw another two warriors fighting. Considering how long he had been unconscious he knew that his fight would come up soon. A man barged past Kero and climbed up to the referee post. He whispered something into Dances with Balrog's ear. Dances with Balrog was the warrior instructor of Perion. He was incredibly strong, yet instead of going away on adventures and wars like most warriors, he trained novices to someday be the strongest warriors out there. He liked his job. Kero wondered how many warriors he had trained in his life. Kero himself had been trained in the basics by Dances. Kero looked uneasy as Dances expression went from jolly to nervous. Dances rushed out and yelled the following statement:<p>

"_The tournament is cancelled! Everyone evacuate the area immediately"_

That very instant, a muscular monster sped round the corner. It had what looked like horse legs and bat wings. Its arms were muscular and it had some of the sharpest claws Kero had ever seen. Fire left its nostrils as it roared at the top of its lungs. Its name: Junior Balrog.

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><p><strong>Well, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. This is my first story. New chapters will come every 5-21 days. My writing mood varies a lot...<strong>


	2. Making Friends

**Screw the five to twenty-one days per chapter. I want to write more. 1-14 days per chapter. This chapter has been remastered(being written yesterday...)**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own MapleStory or its characters (owned by Nexon) except my own OC's. These include: Kero Mizrak, Daniel Indigo, Cyrus Indigo, Jake (Mad) and Sabrina.**

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><p><strong>CHAPTER 2: Making Friends<strong>

Kero Mizrak looked at the beast that towered above him. It snarled as a young warrior charged at it, only to be punched against the wall with such force that it could have cracked his skull. Suddenly, panic arose in the arena and everyone ran to the other exit. Junior Balrog's mouth inflated with fiery gas, only to be struck by Dances with Balrog. Dances then jumped to his height and spun round, causing an energy storm as his axe smashed several times against the beast. Kero ran away, looking at Dances duel with the beast. He soon arrived with the other panicking warriors and then remembered the medical bay he had came out of. He saw the boy and girl who had been waiting for him when he got up.

"What's going on?" the girl asked.

"Junior Balrog..."

"You're joking!"

"No, seriou-" Kero was cut off by a flame that he barely avoided. The beast flew across the hallway, chasing the crowd of people. Out of nowhere, a smaller monster, a Baby Balrog, jumped out and latched onto Kero's face. He stumbled around the room and the girl tried to slash it off. She hit it and it scampered outside.

"What's your name anyways?" asked Kero

"I'm Sabrina and this is Jake, but we all call him Mad" she said

"Mad? Why?"

"It was Madeyeball because he can detect anything within a 500 meter radius with his left eye. His right eye is more or less worthless."

"Nice story bro" said Kero in a mocking tone. "He reminds me of that emo guy from those Japanese ninja comics who had this spinning eye...what was his name? Sask- something."

"Kero, watch out! She's a..." Mad yelled. Kero turned around, expecting a Balrog, but instead Sabrina hit him on the head with a chair.

"Sasuke is NOT an emo!" she yelled in fury.

"Owww, what was that for?"

"I TRIED to warn you that she's a crazy fangirl" Mad said. He received the same chair-to-head treatment. "Hey! Save your fight for the Balrog, not us!"

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><p>Daniel Indigo rode the beast around the sanctuary, killing everyone in sight. All of a sudden, three elite warriors appeared, determined to stop his wrath.<p>

"Get off the Kargo now!" one of them said

"No" was Daniel's simple answer. He whistled and a few seconds later. Junior Balrog appeared behind them. The elites turned around in shock and the Wild Kargo rammed into one of the elites, the Dragon Knight. Junior Balrog trampled on him, squishing his armour.

"Panic! Five combo Orbs!" yelled one of the elites, a Crusader

The squashed warrior was freed as Junior Balrog whined in pain from the attack.

"You OK?" the Crusader asked

"Yeah. Too close for comfort" replied the Dragon Knight

"Hey! Help me out here!" yelled a feminine voice, probably the White Knight. She had the Wild Kargo on one side and the Balrog on the other.

"Dragon...ROAR!" yelled the Dragon Knight as a purple dragon head came out of nowhere and let out a powerful roar infused with Mana. The wild Kargo could barely stand but the Junior Balrog had protected himself with a shield. Daniel Indigo pointed. The Balrog nodded. It revealed its chest and three marks: Fire, Ice and Lighting. The marks combined and a ball of energy hit the White Knight, who had barely countered it with perfect shield timing and a triple elemental infusion. She then ran up to the Balrog, with an infused sword

"Mirror it!" yelled Daniel and a dark shield protected him. Suddenly, the Balrog's claw was infused too and it broke the Knight's sword and shield with ease. Then, a swarm of Baby Balrogs attacked.

"Coma! Two combo orbs!" yelled the Crusader as he swiped through five baby Balrogs and the Junior Balrog. Then, the White Knight created a ghost-like illusion to scare some of the Baby Balrogs.

"My turn! Dragon...ROAR!"

"Mirror the attack!" said Daniel as the shield protected the Junior Balrog, but the same could not be said for the babies. Then, Junior Balrog began swallowing air, as it began glowing purple.

"It's going to roar! Can't you counter it with your own roar?" asked the Crusader

"If I use it again I die, you idiot! It consumes my vitality AND Mana, remember."

"Oh yeah, good point. Well I'm out of ideas so I'll leave the thinking to you"

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><p>Kero, Sabrina and Jake had all left the sanctuary and were all hiding out in the potion shop, owned by Sabrina's parents. Sabrina's mother was busy brewing up a potion. Kero thought she was a very nice person, he had been there before and despite being 10 messo short on several different occasions, he had gotten his potions in the end.<p>

"You two look awfully alike, even without your identical armours." Sabrina's mother remarked. Kero and Mad looked at each over. Apart from a couple of obvious differences, eye colour (Kero had brown, Mad had blue) and skin (Kero's skin was slightly more tanned than Mad's). "Are you related?"

"Nope, never met the guy until today" Kero answered

"You look like you both came out of the sewers." Sabrina muttered

"And what about you? You aren't any angel you know" replied Kero

"You sure look like one" said Mad. Kero and Sabrina gave him a "What the f***" look.

"I think he likes you" her mum replied, with her back turned, still concentrating on brewing potions.

"MUM!" she replied in an incredibly agitated voice.

"Talking of smells, I think we DID come from the sewers. I need a bath, pronto." said Kero. "If you're lucky you can go with your honeykins, eh Mad?"

"You're mincemeat!" said Sabrina, as she cracked her knuckles.

"Good idea. If that's Ok with you miss?" said Mad, trying to make himself heard over Sabrina's roaring and Kero's screams.

"Yes, its fine with me, just don't make it too deep"

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><p>"This is madness!" said the Crusader as the beast towered above him<p>

"No...This...Is..." replied Daniel, but before he could finish, a green axe flew through the air and hit the Junior Balrog in the side of the head, a perfect hit. It toppled over, and a nimble shadow went to pick it up.

"Dances with Balrog! Thank goodness your here!" said the three elites in unison.

"It's over, Daniel. You are a mere novice, a first-jobber. But tell me, how did you gain such power?"

"I will never tell you, Dances!" said Daniel with a hiss in his voice. Then he saw it. A skill book. He knew Daniel knew he had seen it.

"Why are you doing this?" asked Dances, in a calm tone "Give me the book and this will all be over"

"Very well...! I am no ordinary warrior! I come from the elite Indigo family, who were all exterminated because you said they were 'a threat'. They were only a threat to your reign over these lands! I have power. I will show you the TRUE power of our forbidden skills! With this power..."

"You disgust me! Go back to school you blinded little prick!" said the Dragon Knight

"Do not speak to me like that!"

"Make me"

"As you wish, but it will be a wish you will regret FOREVER! DRAGON ROAR!" Daniel screamed at the top of his lungs and a dark dragon appeared out of nowhere, and in unison they let out a fiery breath that broke at least four walls. Dances with Balrog used his telekinesis to stun Daniel and then grabbed his arms.

"Skill of Ancients! Permanent Seal!"

Daniel screamed as the energy from Dances flowed into his arms. He soon fell to his knees and Dances let go.

"DRAGON ROAR!"

The three elites braced themselves but nothing happened. Daniel tried again

"DRAGON ROAR!"

"It's pointless. I have fully sealed your skills; there is no way you can break out"

"No...NO...YOU BASTARD!" Daniel yelled, but before he could finish, his body began flowing with energy. A being emerged from it, wearing black and purple armour and ice-blue boots.

"Thank you for reviving me. Now die!" yelled the being as it impaled Daniel with an ice spear. "You were a shame to our family honour!"

"Cyrus Indigo...so you have returned. Looks like I will have to banish your soul…again." said Dances in a quiet, annoyed tone.

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><p>Kero sat in his bath, relaxed as the bubbles rose above his mouth. He let off some bubbles and heard a shriek. It came from the other bathroom. Mad or Sabrina was waiting outside (or peeking in, for Mad at least) He got out of the bath with a towel around his waist, wondering what the commotion was about.<p>

"This is my bathroom!"

"But I'm the guest here!"

"So?"

"Treat me with respect!"

"I'm a naked girl in a bath and you just walk in! I'm the one needing respect here."

"SHUT UP BOTH OF YOU!" Kero screamed, forgetting that Sabrina is in the bath.

Everyone looked at him with a shocked face until they heard an explosion outside.

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><p><strong>Well, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Probably not my best but oh well. I tried... Oh and this is my first fic. I write chapters every 1 to 14 days(note that these are the extremes, not the average)<strong>


	3. Team 9

**This chapter has had its fight scene revamped. I seriously need to stop ripping off Naruto.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own MapleStory or its characters (owned by Nexon) except my own OC's. These include: Kero Mizrak, Cruz, Jake (Mad), Sabrina Friend and the Indigo Clan**

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><p><strong>CHAPTER 3: Team 9<strong>

"BANISHMENT OF IMPURE SOULS!"

"Not again! No, NO!"

As Dances with Balrog slammed his fist into Cyrus Indigo, a dark storm fell out of the soul that was once the evil member of the Indigo clan. The three elites jumped back, but only the crusader was spared from the scorching winds. The soul began vaporising and was then sucked into a marble, that then disappeared, teleported to a land of evil where Cyrus belonged.

"That's that done with" remarked Dances as he dusted his hands. "Take those two to the medical bay ASAP. Oh and I have a message you need to deliver to the announcers. It's pretty big, can I trust you to do this Cruz?"

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><p>In the bathroom there was a major commotion.<p>

"You pervert! Get the hell out of my bathroom asshole!"

"Respect me! I'm a guest here. Now shut up!"

"Shut the hell up both of you! You're driving me crazy!"

"YOU KEEP OUT OF THIS!" Mad and Sabrina roared in Kero's direction. The explosion had just made matters worse. Sabrina's mother was the only person with a cool head, but that was because she didn't know Mad had just strolled into her daughters bath. They were silenced by a booming voice.

"_All junior warriors between 10 and 16 years and between levels 15 to 35, you MUST assist a meeting in the sanctuary in half an hour. Warriors who fall into the age category but not the level category may optionally assist."_ Despite the voice sounding like a megaphone, it was just five warrior guards whose voices sounded like elephants. And that is much louder and more effective than a megaphone.

"Well that shut us up..." said Sabrina.

"I'm going to my dorm to get my stuff ready. See you there!" Kero said. Kero's parents lived in Lith Harbour, but Kero had always wanted to be a warrior. A lot of warriors came from other towns and when they were official warriors they were given a dorm in the Sanctuary. Kero was one of them. Mad probably was too.

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><p><strong>Warrior Sanctuary: Half an hour later<strong>

Kero Mizrak was sitting down at the front of the assembly hall. Mad and Sabrina had found him and they were there too.

"Right the purpose of this meeting is..." and so Dances droned on about teamwork and safety (of the town that is, I doubt he gave a crap about our individual safety) and what-have-you. About fifteen minutes, the first interesting topic came up

"As you may all know, a new programme to speed up learning has come in. From now on, all warriors below the level of 35 MUST be in a squadron. Each one will be composed of three students and a master. These squadrons will do what every warrior does individually, with the addition of group training. I will now announce the groups."

Kero heard a voice from behind.

"Hey Sabby, maybe me and you can be together in this one?" a boy said. Sabrina rolled her eyes and Mad gave him a middle finger to the face.

"Hey! You wanna fight, punk!"

"Calm down douche. You fought him in the tournament a couple of hours ago and got your ass kicked." Kero bragged.

"Team Nine: Kero Mizrak..."

"Whoa!" he said realizing his name was being announced

"...Jake..."

"What's your surname anyways?" Sabrina asked

"I dunno. Didn't I tell you my life story?"

"Oh yeah, you hit your head and lost your memory as a kid and found your way to Perion so you became a warrior"

"...and Sabrina Friend" said Dances.

"Yeah! Never thought the three of us would get this lucky!" Kero said with joy in his voice.

"Team Nine, please proceed to room 501 to find your mentor."

"Should we get going?" asked Mad.

"Yes! Let's get going! Come on, Kero!"

"Jeez, cool it Sabrina"

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><p>Cruz walked across the sanctuary towards his destination. He had a hand-made sword that had a curved blade, tipped with diamond. It was pretty short, as he needed to carry a shield. It was made out of steel and had the emblem of Leafre on it, where it had been crafted. Cruz himself was a tall man in his thirties. His Hispanic accent was hardly noticeable. He had dark, wild hair that went down across the sides of his face in strands. He was well-shaved and had turquoise eyes. His muscles could have been weaker if they were made out of titanium, and he also had silver and steel armour. He arrived at his destination and opened the door.<p>

"So you must be my students. Nice to meet you" he said

Three very bored people were in the room. One of them had blue sergeant armour and kilt, probably made out of some cheap-ass material. His Viking sword was a double-bladed sword, with a black wooden handle. His shield was just a bent iron plate with two thin perpendicular yellow lines. He had dark brown eyes and his hair was almost black and straight. He reminded him of himself, but he could tell the boy had used gel; the hairstyle looked a tad unnatural. His skin was pretty tanned. The second boy looked like the first ones twin, in the same cheap-ass armour, but in red. His eyes were blue, his hair the same, but more natural. His skin was also paler. He had the same weaponry as the first and neither of them looked that strong. The girl looked older than the boys and she wore "Shark" Armour. It was an iron chest plate, with shoulder pads and a cyan plate that flopped down from the bottom. She had custom made armour for the arms and legs, made out of the matching grey iron on the chest plate. She had a two handed sword, a lot broader and heavier than the boys' Viking swords. She had cyan eyes that matched her armour and brown, curly hair that just passed her neck. She looked quite a bit stronger than the boys as well.

"Could you explain why you're forty-five minutes late?" the girl asked.

"Erm..." Cruz couldn't tell them he had been reading 'adult' books so he just came up with a lame excuse. "I tripped down the stairs and hit my head"

"Your head is made out of concrete and your muscles are steel. How could you faint with that?" the girl asked, in a bad mood.

Okay, so they're smart. Better excuse...aha! "So, names please?"

"Kero Mizrak"

"Jake, and no, I do not have a surname. But you can call me Mad."

"Sabrina Friend"

"Nice to meet you, then. I am Cruz and I will be your mentor for now."

"No way am I having this bumbling fool as my mentor!" Sabrina protested.

"Now, how old are you all?" asked Cruz, ignoring Sabrina's protests.

"Thirteen" Kero replied

"Thirteen, and Sab here is fourteen, but she can act five" said Mad. This caused Sabrina's wrath to change targets from Cruz to Mad.

"Is she always like this?" he asked

"Most of the time" said Kero. "You're lucky, you seem to be made of brick, whilst me and mad would be tinfoil."

"Good point"

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><p><strong>Hidden Valley Training Grounds<br>Perion**

"Oh come on! I get all ready to train you and THIS is what I get?" asked Cruz as Kero landed a direct hit on his face, and a tiny cut appeared on his cheek.

"I told you. You're brick, I'm tinfoil."

"Remember, if a key hits the floor, then I can destroy it! And you know there are only two keys here. And..."

"I know, if we get none to the starting point then we sleep out here for the night!"

Kero blocked Cruz's attack but was sent flying by a push of the shield. Mad and Sabrina appeared from behind as Cruz summoned a tiger made of Mana. He used it to create a massive roar, stunning the two behind him. Cruz took out the two keys and put them inside a ball-and-chain. Kero charged, sidestepping his new mentor's sword and then jabbed him in the neck. He withdrew his sword. Cruz chuckled.

"Not bad kiddo. Now taste a true attack!" said Cruz as he slammed his shield into Kero, sending him flying quite a way into the distance. Cruz then spun the ball-and-chain, tossing it off at least a kilometre away. A recovering Kero, Sabrina and Jake looked over the nearby cliff they were now standing on. Jake and Kero quickly hopped onto the winding path.

"Suckers..." muttered Sabrina as she jumped down the cliff into a giant pool of water down below, not realizing there was an overhang.

"Crap..."

Mad and Kero duelled fiercely as they both ran down the cliff. They both tripped each other up. Kero fell down a cliff into the water pool. Mad landed in a massive pile of mud.

"Why me..." muttered Kero as he lay in the pool of water.

"INCOMING!" screamed Sabrina as she crashed on top of him.

"Fail..." said Mad as he arrived at the bottom of the path. Kero got out of the pool and gave chase, shortly followed by Sabrina. Kero barely overtook Mad, with Sabrina not too far behind.

"Nimble feet!" yelled Kero as a blue aura surrounded his feet and feathers rose from the ground.

"Going somewhere?" asked Sabrina as she too used Nimble feet.

"CHAAAAAAARGE!" yelled Mad as his feet shone purple and burst ahead of the other two. He almost reached the ball-and-chain, but not before tripping over a rock and landed flat on his face in a pile of mud.

"Wow..." muttered Cruz as he sat on the ledge back where the fight was a couple of minutes ago. He held three sacks and spun them in the air. He then launched them towards the trio.

As Kero and Sabrina reached the keys, three sacks landed in front of them and exploded.

"A fluffy rabbit, a toy horse with a little Playmobile man and a panda?" asked Kero as he stared at the monsters that had left the sack. Jake charged at the horse and its rider, but was slashed by a plastic sword with surprising force. Kero snuck around and grabbed a key.

"See you later!" he exclaimed and then used nimble feet to run back to the starting point. The three monsters chased after him. Jake and Sabrina stared at each other momentarily before diving at the other key. Sabrina got it and headed back to the starting point at full speed. Mad went quickly in pursuit. As the two caught up to the monsters, Mad sent a barrage of attacks at the horse. The rider turned around with a death glare. The moment he was distracted, Kero jumped up and landed a Power Strike on its neck, amputating its head. He landed on the horse and rode it into the panda, knocking it over and letting Sabrina slash it in half.

"So...they finally found out how to solve the problem. Working as one." said Cruz, now perched on a higher ledge.

The desert rabbit was killed as the three ran up the winding path. Kero and Mad had a key, but everyone was fighting everyone. As they reached the top of the hill, Kero tripped up a wire, causing the other two to stop. As his key hit the floor, a throwing star attacked to a cord hooked it up and sent it flying back to where the star had come from. Kero and Sabrina looked at Mad. He ran towards the starting point as fast as he could, followed by Kero and Sabrina. The key leaped between the three as they approached the final few metres. Another wire tripped them up as all three of them grabbed the key just before it hit the floor.

"Well done." said Cruz. "Since you all won, you can all sleep out here tonight!"

"WHAT!" said the group.

"Just kidding. Get some shut-eye, we have a mission tomorrow." said Cruz. And with that, the first day was over.

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><p><strong>I enjoyed writing this chapter. I think this first fic is going on quite well. I knew I would have to bring out the aggressive side of the characters some time, so I thought a competitive training exercise would be good. And thank you anyone who takes the time to review for some constructive criticism.<strong>


	4. The Quest for the Golden Shroom

**I got the name Madeyeball from my best friend on maplestory, for those who were curious. I wanted to drop the F-Bomb a couple of times on this chapter but I'm saving it for when it should be used  
><strong>

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own MapleStory or its characters (owned by Nexon) except my own OC's. These include: Kero Mizrak, Cruz, Jake (Mad), Sabrina Friend and the Indigo Clan**

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><p><strong>CHAPTER 4: The quest for the Golden Shroom<strong>

The alarm had just gone off. A hand smashed it, and went back to sleep, after muttering

"Five more minutes..."

**SPLASH!**

"Wha...what? What the hell Mad?" asked Kero as he woke up in a jolt from the cold water bucket that had been thrown at him.

"Cruz will kill us if we're late. Get moving!"

"Ok, ok, I'm getting ready...just give me fifteen minutes"

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><p><strong>Warrior Sanctuary: Bulletin Board<br>15 minutes later...**

Kero, Sabrina and Mad were waiting at the bulletin board. Sabrina had lectured the boys as they were five minutes late.

"Where the heck's Cruz?" asked Sabrina.

"I dunno" replied Mad.

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><p><strong>Warrior Sanctuary: Bulletin Board<br>Another 15 minutes later...**

"About time, Cruz!" said Kero in a pissed off tone. "We've been waiting twenty minutes for you"

"Sorry, overslept" he said in a carefree tone.

"Some master you are..." said Sabrina in the same tone as Kero. A few seconds later she was on the floor, getting up.

"Whoa! That's fast for a warrior!" remarked Mad at Cruz's swipe that knocked the warrior girl over.

"Since you three are weaklings, Dances with Balrog has given us an easy-ish mission" said Cruz, ignoring Sabrina's roars.

"First mission...I'm ready. Give us the briefing, Cruz!" said Kero with much enthusiasm.

"Very well... We must recover an ancient artefact. It was built in Henesys, called the SHROOM OF DOOM!"

"Very funny...now what is it called?" asked Sabrina

"The Spore Amplificator. It is used to boost the power of spores, and mushrooms. A noble family of Henesys lost it, and it seems that they have a strong dislike for bowmen. So they called us, the warriors. In the wrong hands, the amplificator could cause havoc. We must retrieve it ASAP!"

"Good. I don't want my hair to get ruined so can we take a cab?"

"NO! Warriors never take taxis. They walk. It boosts the stamina. I woke you up early so we could get to Henesys before lunchtime. Any objections? No? Then let's go!"

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><p>"Hey Drake, wait up!" said a boy<p>

"Yeah Drake, we can't keep up" said a girl

"Dudes, you are SOOOOO slow!" said another boy, tearing at breakneck speed past his master

"Ok, but this is the LAST time I am slowing down for you two" said Drake. Drake was a Dragon Knight. He was travelling with his squadron, Team 8. Sometimes he wished his friend Cruz hadn't taken him to heal in the medical bay so quickly. He hated this job. He wore Mithril Platine armour, a blue metal suit that covered him head-to-toe. He had a long Omega Spear, a stick with a giant horseshoe shaped blade, with points at the end and spikes all over. He had a Mithril Planet helmet that covered his dark spiky hair. He had red eyes and pale skin. He had a scar on his cheek, but it hardly bothered him. His three students tried to keep up. He wondered how much better off Cruz was...

Probably not much

* * *

><p>"Hey Cruz, wait up!" said a boy<p>

"Yeah Cruz, we can't keep up" said a girl

"Guys, you are SOOOOO slow!" said another boy, tearing at breakneck speed past his master.

"Why can't you be more like Mad?" Cruz asked his two slow students as they passed another tree dungeon. They were almost at Ellinia, the halfway point between Perion and Henesys. The students weren't strong enough to go through Sleepywood so they had to take the long way round. Sabrina was fiddling in her pocket.

"Whatchya lookin for, Sab?" asked Kero

"You'll see! Watch this!"

"Watch what?" asked Kero, giving her an odd stare.

Sabrina gave him a deathly glare but suddenly smiled "Eureka! I found it!" she said as she pulled out a red flask

"It's a red potion..." Kero told her.

"No, you idiot! It's a speed potion! I'm gonna use it to leave those two in the dust!" she said, whilst gulping it down. She stopped. She went red. She looked as if she was going to blow.

**WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!**

She took off at almost three times the speed she was going, seeming unable to stop. Kero had caught up with Mad and Cruz, as the latter stopped.

"Well, you all seem a bit tired so we'll have a short break" he said.

"What's with Sabrina? Is she high?" asked Mad, noticing Sabrina catching up, lightning fast.

"No, she took a speed potion in one gulp"

"That's suicidal"

"I know. She wanted to catch up, but she's probably going to fail"

Sabrina then trips up on a tree root and lands head-first infront of Cruz.

"Why...are...we...stopping?" she asked, her throat burning from the potion.

"Short break"

"Fuck...why me?"

* * *

><p>The pirate snuck across the clearing into the bushes. He had just left Nautilus Harbour. He wasn't acting under the permission of any of his instructors, so he had to quickly find the amplificator and turn it in before anyone found out he was gone. He should have until sunset to get back. He jumped into the air and landed on the platform in perfect silence. He wore brown cotton overalls, the bottom darker than the top, and had very tanned skin. He had closely shaved black hair, covered with a hat. His sandals made no noise as he ran across the platform and jumped onto the next. He saw an orange mushroom infront of him. It had its back turned. He took his chance and grabbed it from behind, muffling it. He then brutally smashed it with his knuckle until it collapsed to the floor. He hopped on the ground, and up onto another platform. He grabbed the edge with one hand, realizing that was far too close for comfort. He felt a jolt of pain in his hand and resisted the urge to scream. A wasp flew out from underneath his palm. He screamed and let go, as he ripped the stinging nettle that the wasp was feeding on out of the platform. He looked at his sore palm and landed on the ground.<p>

Head first...

He cursed himself as he heard voices.

"Hey Cruz! Are we there yet?"

"Yeah Cruz! I need to eat!"

"And I need water. That shitty excuse for a potion...I'm going to sue the person who made it!"

"Doesn't your mother make them?" said the first one.

"Shut up..."

"Quit squabbling you two! Remember, we need the Spore Amplificator, and we aren't close yet" said a fourth voice. That was all the pirate needed. He would have to work fast. Not only were the Gangsta Magez after it but so were these bumbling fools. He peeked through and saw two boys and a girl. They were weak. But the guy infront was way more than the pirate could handle.

"I guess it's a matter of speed now!" the pirate thought to himself

* * *

><p><strong>Henesys: Entrance<br>Time: 3.01 PM**

"AAAAAAAAAAARGH!"

"What's the matter Cruz?" asked Mad

"I'm a failure... I said we would get here before lunchtime. That's three o'clock"

"We're only one minute late..." remarked Sabrina sarcastically.

"It is?"

"Idiot..."

"Don't call me an idiot. Besides, we have to talk to the nobles who want the amplificator back."

"Good point"

* * *

><p>"Ah, hello. So you are Sir Cruz and these are your students?" asked the man. He was in his sixties, balding and wore a white tunic. He was overweight and his beard needed a shave.<p>

"Yes, sir. Now before we go, we're going to know where you last saw the amplificator"

"You're going to leave? Why not have lunch with us first?"

"That's very kind but no tha..."

"LUNCH! Please can we stay Cruz? Please?" yelled Kero and Mad in unison.

"Ugh...fine"

"Sir Cruz, Masters Kero and Jake and Mistress Sabrina, please follow me to the dining table"

Sir Edward Lucas and his wife, Fiona Lucas escorted the squad to the dining room. Slowly, Sabrina slowed down, but Kero noticed her. Mad was too excited to notice though.

"What's the matter?"

"I've known Mad for some time. He has so few eating manners. Eat, swallow and eat. That's his policy."

Cruz sat at one end and Sabrina sat at the other. Edward and Fiona sat next to eachover on one side and Kero and Mad on the other. The table was set for six, with a salad bowl, potatoes and some chicken. There was also salt, pepper, an olive bowl and all kinds of spices, sauces and more. Edward then began an announcement.

"So shall we say gra..."

"No time for saying grace! Its chow time!" said Mad, chewing on an olive from the olive bowl.

"Told you, Kero" whispered Sabrina.

"Tuck in, folks!" said Edward

Sabrina began praying.

* * *

><p>Kero, Mad and Sabrina were walking down a sunny path. Cruz had seen someone, an old friend probably, and gone off to greet him. Sabrina's prayers had come true, Mad ate a serving and a half before getting indigestion; it's usually four or five before that. They had been walking for five minutes and had no luck in finding the relic. Suddenly, Kero spotted something<p>

"Watch out guys!" he yelled as he smashed something behind the bushes. An orange mushroom with a wound on its head limped away.

"It's only a shroom. Calm down" said Sabrina

"You're right. Wait...what's that noise?"

**_SMASH!_**

Kero smashed his sword on an approaching orange mushroom. The sword barely cut the surface. Something wasn't right. The mushroom had about ten more behind it. The orange mushroom opened its mouth and began throwing up on the floor.

"Ewwww, gross" remarked Sabrina

"I doubt that's much compared to Mad"

"Hey! Shut up! I do not puke that much!"

Unnoticed by the arguing trio, the mushroom barfs up a stone item. A certain pirate observes the item, wondering when to make his move. When the warriors notice it, the mushroom eats it again. Sabrina is the first one to speak

"What was that?"

"I think that was the artefact, the Spore Amplificator. What about you Mad?"

"Me too! Let's take down that mushie!"

The orange mushroom's lid turned a golden colour, its teeth turned to fangs and it released several spores. Its followers grew shorter fangs but their caps stayed the same. The mushroom roared and released several dark energy bolts, each knocking over a different warrior. The pirate smirked, before being shadow balled in the face. Kero did a backflip to avoid a barrage and shielded himself. Mad and Sabrina charged forward, only to be bitten on the face by the followers. They screamed in unison and pried them off with their swords. They looked at their bleeding foreheads and chins and wiped away the blood. Kero charged ahead, only to be knocked over by Mad, who had been propelled backwards by a shadow ball. Sabrina penetrated one of the minions with a Power Strike, smiling as she watched the mushroom's blood spill off her sword. Kero and Mad stood next to eachover, their blades glowing green. They then charged in unison and yelled:

"Slash Blast!"

They hit the leader, who flew back a considerable distance and the energy wave mortally wounded most of the minions. The leader barked some orders and they all huddled together, leaving a red trail in their wake. The golden mushroom unleashed a fountain of spores. They turned around, fully healed from their wounds. The one Sabrina thought she killed snarled at her, with its razor sharp fangs. A shadow ball left Sabrina paralyzed and the resulting explosion knocked the boys on the floor. The pirate chuckled, seeing the novices fail so badly. He then panicked as he saw two people closing in on the battle. The first one was a woman, in her twenties, with sky blue hair that went down in curls until her waist. She wore a deep-blue Chaos Robe and wielded a sapphire staff. Her ice-blue eyes made her look intimidating and attractive at the same time. Her skin looked unhealthily pale. The second person was a man of the same age, with crimson spiky hair. He wore a red Chaos Robe and wielded a ruby staff. His eyes were brown, with a hint of red. His skin was slightly tanned. They both wore capes with the following letters

**GM**

* * *

><p>The three warriors were having a hard time. They couldn't take much more. Out of nowhere, an icicle spear appeared and missed Kero by centimetres. They looked up to see two magicians in identical robes.<p>

"Prepare for trouble!"

"And you can make it double"

"To protect our world from devastation"

"To ignite all people within our nation"

"Frost"

"Ember"

"Gangsta Magez are ready to fight"

"Surrender now or we will ignite!"

Out of nowhere, a third mage in white Chaos robes and blonde hair, wielding an emerald staff, joins the group! He also had a cape, his skin was pale, but not as pale as Frost's and his eyes were green.

"Light say's that's right!" he says

"Ok, first things first...who the freaking hell are you?" asks Sabrina

"You do not know? We are the Gangsta Magez! Frost! Ember! Light! And we will stop at nothing to get that artefact!" they say in unison.

"If it's a fight you want, it's a fight you're getting. So prepare to lose!" yells Kero, without a hint of fear. The pirate, still hidden in the bushes, face palmed. These Gangsta Magez were second-job magicians. How were these rookies going to beat them? Unless their master arrives, then they're doomed!

**It's the ultimate three-way battle! Team 9 VS Gangsta Magez VS Gold Mushroom Squad! Who will win?**

* * *

><p><strong>Once again, I liked writing this chapter. I think I'm getting better at writing and plot making, this chapter turned out pretty long. Feedback is really appreciated, especially on my sense of humour. I have no idea if you guys find it funny or not. Next chapter coming soon!<strong>

**Will Team Nine loose to the Gangsta Magez?  
>Will Cruz return to save them?<br>Will the mushrooms beat the Gangsta Magez?****  
>Who will end up with the artifact?<strong>


	5. Vs Gangsta Magez!

**I doubt I will write a battle scene this long in some time... It was pretty hard as it was. Yet the chapter is the third shortest...**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own MapleStory or its characters (owned by Nexon) except my own OC's. These include: Kero Mizrak, Cruz, Jake (Mad), Sabrina Friend and the Indigo Clan**

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 5: Vs Gangsta Magez!<strong>

The three warriors, the three mages and the ten mushrooms formed a perfect triangle, with each party in a corner. A breeze blew some leaves away, across the otherwise plain meadow, with a couple of rocky outcrops to the north. A storm was brewing in the distance.

"So, we begin?" asked Frost in her regular, seductive tone.

"Reminder: This is your funeral." replied Kero

"Grrrawargah!" snarled the mushroom leader.

The tension was huge, like a Mexican standoff. Sabrina broke the tension and charged with her sword glowing blue, in preparation for a Power Strike. Everyone else sped off at the same time. The mushrooms hopped, charging shadow balls in their mouths; the mages ran, with their staffs glowing and Kero and Mad charged in unison, with their swords emitting a green glow, in an attempt to replicate their dual Slash Blast from earlier that almost destroyed the mushroom pack. Sabrina jumped over the glowing swords as the boys overtook her. All three were going to clash at the same time. Suddenly, the Gangsta Magez slowed down and Frost teleported to the centre.

"Thunder Bolt!"

A blue light rose up from her staff and lightning bolts struck down on both Kero and Mad and four mushrooms. The victims shuddered as ten thousand volts were sent down their spines, and launched back in recoil. Sabrina jumped over the boys and unleashed her Power Strike on Frost, who simply blocked it with her staff. Ember and Light had closed in and fired Fire and Holy Arrows respectively on the mushrooms. Sabrina was in a heated battle with Frost as they exchanged blow for blow. Just as Sabrina reached out with a Power Strike with insane, Frost teleported away and unleashed a Cold Beam, causing Sabrina to be stabbed with shards of ice and frozen on the spot. The injured mushrooms get up and the leader begins a mutation. Two holes appear on the sides of his body as arms made out of a void energy form. Light then uses a Heal spell, causing the mages to be healed and the mushroom injured. Kero and Mad get up and thaw Sabrina. The three then charge at the mages, only to result in each warrior trying to fight an individual mage. Kero goes against Frost, who winks and causes him to lose focus. She then creates a spike ball of ice on the tip of her staff and slams it into Kero's stomach.

"Hurts, doesn't it?" she asked in a mocking tone.

"Shut up...you old hag!" he replied, wincing in pain as a small flow of red comes out of his abdomen. He then unleashed his sword on her, landing straight on her face, causing her to fall over. She struggled to get up as she rubbed the deep wound on her cheek.

* * *

><p>Mad and Sabrina tried a dual Power Strike against Ember, but he and Light charged up an arrow.<p>

"Sacred Flame Launcher!"

A fiery arrow of light landed between the two warriors as they are engulfed in a ball of light and fire.

"That should do it, but next time we need to aim better." Ember muttered as he walked away.

Suddenly, a storm of spores hits the battlefield and Team 9 and the Gangsta Magez begin to feel drowsy.

"Gwrahahahahahaw!" cackled the mushroom leader, now with a mutated pair of legs as well. His fellow mushrooms unleashed a shadow bomb barrage, causing the entire arena to explode in a ball of shadow. The warriors were naturally standing: their high resistance allowed them to easily survive the explosion. But the mages would have been dead if Light hadn't used Invincible at the last moment. The mushrooms jumped high up into the air and charged back down. The other fighters were hit in the face repeatedly by falling mushrooms. Sabrina managed to enter fierce combat with the leader, but somehow the mushroom had the upper hand in mobility and range. Sabrina soon collapsed and the Gangsta Magez combined their Magic Bolts and blasted her into a rock. She then gets up, with blood all over her hair, face and armour. Mad ran over to her in worry, as she tried to speak, choking on god-knows-what, where as Kero continued in battle, his face showing fear for the first time since his encounter with the Junior Balrog. Mad found a potion in Sabrina's pocket, and gave it to her. She coughed a bit before passing out.

"I'm going to **_KILL_** you!" roared Mad

The rouge mages managed to blow away Kero and the mushrooms.

"Have you got a problem kiddo?" asked Frost

"It's her fault for being such a numbskull and challenging us." added Ember

"So please just quit whining, punk. Shit happens, you gotta learn." said Light

Mad snarled, as tears came out of his furious eyes and rolled down his face.

_"You...you're monsters! I want you **DEAD**!"_

Mad was surrounded by a dark aura, his blue eyes turned to an indigo purple. His teeth seemed to grow sharp, and his wounds healed. He let out a roar to the sky and then dashed at insane speed towards the magicians. He punched each individual mushroom with such force that they flied back several metres. Mushroom blood curled down Mad's fingers as he turned to the Gangsta Magez.

"No more distractions. Just me and you, you rotten piles of crap." said Mad with a snarl in his voice.

"Sacred Flame Launcher!"

"Iron Body!" Mad yelled, before being engulfed again by a ball of energy and fire.

"Direct hit! Hell yeah!" said Light and Ember. "That punk won't stand a chance!"

As the smoke cleared, a boy with a small trail of blood trickled down his broad chest. His armour had snapped in two, a diagonal cut. He pulled the arrow out of his chest, where his heart was, without the slightest hint of pain.

Suddenly, Light began panicking. "Darn! This guy is strong! He didn't just resist it. He was smiling. _He was smiling._"

* * *

><p>Kero had just finished killing the last of the mushrooms, as most of them were weakened by Mad's fury. He looked at his friend in awe, Jake's Iron Body skill was way superior to his own.<p>

"Light, you should start running." Mad said with spite. The mage did as he said and ran off and teleported up onto the cliff. Mad got on all fours and pounced up to an incredible height and landed on the same cliff. A downpour had just begun and Light was standing there, scared to the bone. He yelled and sent a barrage of Holy Arrows. Mad walked straight into the barrage, deflecting them with his sword and shield. He purposely let his guard down and let the arrows bounce off his bare chest. Light was seriously panicking now. He was low on Mana, the magic reserves all adventurers use to attack, and without his Magic Guard, the boy would instantly kill him. The boy grinned, with a smile that even unnerved Kero, who had begun climbing some vines to reach Mad. The other two Gangsta Magez teleported up as well and threw a potion at Light. Madeyeball's left eye detected it and he sliced it in two as it flew through the air. Light created an energy...thing.

"He...hey you! Yeah you...taste my Mana Eater!" he stuttered, before the energy being disappeared as his Mana was completely depleted. Mad let off an evil smile. Ember spat out some toxic breath, which poisoned Frost, but Mad swallowed it and sent it right back at him, and barely teleported the weakened Frost and himself away. The three Gangsta Magez looked at Mad.

"So this is where it ends...here and now. Say your prayers Gangsta Magez!" said Mad, just before his Iron Body wore out.

"Frozen Sacred Flame Arrow!" the mages said in unison.

"Look out!" Kero yelled, but too late as Mad was impaled by the arrow. Kero barely avoided the same fate by deflecting it with his shield. He watched it explode as it hit the ground, unknowing that a certain pirate was at the centre of the blast.

"So, boy! You have lost! This time it will blow up on you!" they said.

_"Not so fast! Corkscrew Punch!"_

A blur hit all three mages as they flew to the other side of the ledge. The blur turned out to be a teenage boy with tanned skin, closely cut hair, beige and brown overalls and a sharp knuckle. He seemed out of breath.

"You again! You pesky pirate! But no matter, our attack will still be successful."

The pirate fought with his fists, only to be hit by a frozen staff in the stomach.

"No...No...I can't believe it!" said the pirate in agony. The mages launched the attack as the three of them prepared for the worst.

* * *

><p>A warrior with turquoise eyes ran quickly towards the area where the battle had begun. He knew his students were in danger. He jumped up ledges, until he reached the top and scanned for the fight. There! Beneath him! He jumped down, just in time to grab an arrow aimed for his students.<p>

"Cruz!" cheered Mad and Kero.

"Where's Sabrina?"

"She's hurt bad!"

"Let me deal with these buffoons first." said Cruz as he threw the arrow back into the air and walked away.

"Hey! No one backs out on the Gangs..."

That was all Light and the others could say before being incinerated in a ball of fire and light, as icicle shards spun around in that violent storm. When it finally subsided, the Gangsta Magez were all unconscious and would probably need serious medical attention before they fought again. Mad then collapsed, probably of hyperventilation and serious wounds. Cruz grabbed him and jumped down the ledge and picked up Sabrina as well.

"Mission failed?" Kero asked.

"No, because you got the Amplificator...didn't you?"

"Oh shit! I forgot all about it! The mushrooms had it but we were so focused on the Gangsta Magez! Kero and Cruz ran over to the golden mushroom. It was alive somehow, and managed to repel the two with itching spores. It then bathed itself in healing spores as it grew and its skin was torn to shreds. Blood seeped out of the gaps, only to be mixed with a dark aura, creating an orange fluid that surrounded the mushroom. It turned into a large humanoid figure with swords for arms. It slashed at Kero, who barely dodged it and saw the rock that it had cut effortlessly.

"We're done for...I can barely stand up." said Kero.

"Pessimist..." muttered Cruz as he raised his sword covered in a purple aura. "Ground SMASH!" he yelled as purple blasts rose out of the earth; bringing mud, dirt and stone with it as it advanced towards the mushroom figure. When it finally hit, the mushroom toppled over and the liquid leaked onto the floor, leaving the muscular tissue to rot on the floor.

"That was easy enough..." Kero remarked, as they began their journey back to town.

* * *

><p><strong>That was a pretty long and intense battle, but Team Nine came out on top! As always, feedback appreciated. New chapters will be posted every 2-5 days depending on my business and mood.<strong>


	6. SourPunch

**Sorry about how long it took to write this chapter. Pre-easter homework rush...**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own MapleStory or its characters (owned by Nexon) except my own OC's. Those in this chapter include: Team 9 [Kero Mizrak, Cruz, Jake (Mad), Sabrina Friend], Team 8, SourPunch and the Lucas family.**

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 6: SourPunch<strong>

It was a nice sunny day in Henesys Square, so Kero and Cruz were having a drink at a café. Kero had water. Cruz had...some tropical drink. They had left Mad and Sabrina at the nearby hospital. Both Mad and Sabrina had serious wounds. Mad had been impaled in the heart by an elemental arrow. Sabrina had been blasted by some incredibly strong energy balls. They would have to go back in an hour to pick up the results. At best, they would be fighting fit by sunset and they would set off the next day. At the worst they could have to take a week-long operation.

"So, any plans when you get back to Perion?" asked Cruz.

"Rest and Relax. And buy some stuff with the reward money we're gonna get!" replied the enthusiastic boy.

"Calm down kid, it's only 10000 messo."

"ONLY ten thousand! Are you insane?"

"Hey. When you're at my level, gear and potions become way pricier."

"I'm gonna save most of my share. Two thousand five hundred messo!"

"Actually, no. The leader gets half, but I have to pay a third of that to the Perion Council. The rest is split. So you get 1666 messo."

"Damn you Cruz!"

"Not my fault."

* * *

><p>On the roof of the Musharama café, a pirate was thinking of how to grab the relic. He had overheard everything they had said. He had half an hour before they left. But they might go and cash in the relic beforehand! He saw the mentor calling the waiter. Now was his chance. He dropped off the roof and landed on the table. He crouched down to the boy's level.<p>

"You're stepping in the ashtray." the boy said. The pirate took his foot out and moved the ashtray to one side.

"Hey kiddo. I want the amplificator." said the pirate in a calm voice, putting his forehead against Kero's.

"Well you ain't gonna get it! My master can kick your ass any day!"

"I saved you, remember!"

"No, Cruz did!"

"I saved you so he could save you afterwards! If I wasn't there, there would be no-one to save!"

Cruz had finished tipping the waiter and turned around, only to touch the pirate's ass, sending him forward.

"Sorry." said Cruz in apology. "Who the heck are you and what do you think you're doing on my table?"

"Wha...what...! Yuck! What the hell do you think you're doing, homo!" asked Kero

"Dude, that douche knocked me!" said the pirate, pointing his finger in Cruz's face. Unknown to the elite, he had knocked the two rivals together, and now they were about to throw up.

And they did.

"Warriors...my mortal enemy." said the pirate.

"Oh...my...god! Kero and Pirate sitting in a tree, K-I..." said a warrior who had casually approached from behind.

"-L-L-I-N-G! And if you finish that sentence the other way I will send your ass to the moon, Mad!" said Kero.

"Mad? What are you doing out of hospital? Didn't you have a wound that penetrated your heart?" asked Cruz, mystified by the sudden cure of Mad.

"Oh, this?" he casually asked, lifting his armour and showing nothing more than a small scar.

"How did he heal so fast?" asked the pirate.

"I dunno." he said without the slightest care in the world.

"This is madness!" said the pirate

"No, this is..."

"This is...?"

"I have no idea what this is to be honest."

Kero and Cruz face palmed. The waiter tried to break up the squabble, to no avail.

"Oh and give me the Amplificator!" said the pirate.

"Why should we?" asked Cruz

"Because I am the mighty SourPunch!" he said, clenching his fist.

_**AAAAAARRRRRGGGGH!**_

The pirate opened his palm, to reveal a wounded wasp buzzing away. "Wasps...my mortal enemy!" he said, cursing at the insect.

"Weren't warriors your mortal enemy?" asked Mad.

"Shut up..."

* * *

><p>"Heal Skill!" said the man as a holy aura healed himself and his two fellow companions.<p>

"Ugh...I thought we were dead back there." said a redhead.

"That stupid crusader, how dare he think he can use our ultimate attack against us." said his blue haired companion.

"Tony will not be happy. We have one more chance! Quick! To Henesys!"

* * *

><p>The argument had ended with quite a bit of property damage. SourPunch did the gentleman act and paid the man one thousand messo. Unknown to them, three people were on the roof and had just jumped off.<p>

"In the name of the mighty Drake, give us the Amplificator!" said a boy

"Yeah!" said his comrades, a boy and a girl.

"Kero?"

"NOW you recognize me, Victor..." said Kero in a moody tone.

"Hey Mizzie, whatchya doin' out in Henesys?"

"How many times have I told you NOT to call me Mizzie?"

"Care to introduce?" asked Mad.

They began to pose, and said in unison:

"We are team eight!"

"Victor!"

"Sarah!"

"Morton!"

Suddenly, a voice boomed through the square.

"How many times have I told you NOT to do that darned pose?" asked a pale, red-eyed Dragon Knight.

"Hello again Drake."

"Hey there, Cruz."

"Is this your squad? They look pathetic."

"Shut up! And I thought this was for warriors, not pira-"

_**KA-BOOM!**_

"Prepare for trouble."

"And you can make it double."

"Cut the crap and tell us what the hell you want, Gangsta Magez?" said the very annoyed pirate.

"That! And you can take this!" said Light who had popped out from behind the duo, pointing at the Amplificator and throwing a scroll.

"A scroll? What are they planning?" thought Drake. The scroll landed on a table and Sour's eyes opened in shock.

"_HIT THE FLOOR!"_

The Team Nine juveniles hit the floor just as an expansive wave sped across the air. The two masters and Team Eight; Drake, Cruz, Victor, Sarah and Morton weren't so lucky. Everyone who was hit by it lost balance and landed on the floor.

"Now what?" asked Kero.

"Leave this to me!" said Sour, adjusting his hat.

"No way! Kero, let's do the Slash Blast!" yelled Mad as the two ran with glowing swords

"Perfect..." thought the pirate to himself. All three mages teleported behind the warriors and turned around in order to attack.

"One Thousand Years of DEATH!" yelled the pirate, with both his middle and index fingers poking outwards. Light turned around in fear, only to have four fingers shoved up his ass.

"Boom." said Sour as Mana erupted from his fingers, sending the mage flying several hundred meters away, out of the plaza.

"And a home run for the ultimate!" he roared as the other two mages looked at him with a ticked off look.

"Wow, you're a pro!" cheered Kero.

"We'll leave these two to you, Sour." said Mad.

"Hey! What the? No way!" protested the pirate. He couldn't get behind them now they knew his secret. But...what if?

"Hey Frost! Come get me!"

"Thunder Bolt!" she yelled as lightning struck from the sky. Sour narrowly avoided it and he charged with his fingers in the Thousand Years of Death position.

"That trick won't work a second time pal. And you can't jam them up my rear this time!" she mocked.

"I'm not aiming there."

"What? Then...HEY, DON'T!" she screamed as she flew out of the square.

Kero and Mad looked at the pirate.

"Dude, you're some pervert..." said the warrior in blue.

"Kero's right. You can't go around doing that to women!" said his companion in red

"Why? You jealous?" asked the cocky pirate. The two warriors knew when to shut up. Ember slowly crept away, hoping not to be hit by the finger-up-your-ass technique. But he did.

* * *

><p><strong>Henesys Hospital: 4.57 PM<strong>

"She's waking up!" said a nurse.

"Well won't her mentor be pleased?" said another.

"Those were some injures...think she'll make it?" asked a third.

_**SMASH!**_

A man in red overalls flew through the window and onto the patient. Sabrina looked at Ember with an assassin's look in her eyes.

"Thousand...years...finger...ass...pirate." he muttered, seeming only half conscious. The warrior girl was not pleased. Ember managed to reach the door and run, only to be followed by Sabrina

_**CRASH!**_

He crashed into a nurse carrying a tray with a newspaper, a pen and last but not least, hot chocolate. Ember screamed, only to be silenced by Sabrina.

"You're dead old man!"

The nurses watched in horror as Sabrina beat the mage to a pulp. A rookie nurse fainted from the shock. She was going to need the day off.

"Ok, take the mage to the emergency room ASAP!" said the nurse in charge.

* * *

><p>Cruz and Team Eight had recovered from the shockwaves and were now discussing what to do next.<p>

"Well boys, I'm proud of you. You got rid of the mages like it was nothing." said Cruz.

"Actually, thank Sour. He got rid of all three of them single-handedly with a new skill." interrupted Kero.

"It was nothing." added the pirate.

"Your squad seems impressive. My team has a job to do. See you back in Perion, Cruz." said Drake.

"Farewell. I have to head to the hospital to pick up Sabrina." said Cruz. "Mad, come with me. Kero, return the Amplificator to Edward Lucas. We'll meet up at the entrance to the city."

"Look Sour, quit following me. I won't let you steal this!"

"Says who?"

Kero ignored the pirate and knocked on the door.

"Yes? Oh, hello Kero." said the friendly old man. "Oh! You have our relic. You warriors really are reliable. I am surprised you got this so soon. Where are your three friends?"

"One's in hospital, the other two are going to pick her up." butted in the pirate.

"So they're that strong..."

Kero tried to stop the man from worrying about the amplificator. "No, it's not that. Three magicians called the Gangsta Magez atta..."

_**GANGSTA MAGEZ!**_

Fiona dropped the dishes she was washing in shock.

"You heard of them?" asked Sour.

"Yes. The Gangsta Magez are no ordinary gang." said the wife. "They could make an army with all their men. They all work for the Gangsta, a man called Tony. Back when Edward was a young archer, he and many more rose against Tony. The two fought in mortal combat in a cursed forest clearing bordering Ellinia and Henesys."

"But Tony was far superior. And I was no measly bowman. I could snipe a Wild Kargo in the brain from five hundred meters away!" added Edward.

"Tony...I met him several times. Revolting man, very powerful." replied Sour.

"That's a lot coming from your mouth, Sour."

"Shut up Kero!"

"That's enough both of you!" yelled Edward. "You must have had trouble from the Gangsta Magez. Therefore, take this."

Kero held ten thousand messo in one hand, and an extra five thousand in another. To shut Sour up, he dumped the smaller amount in the pirate's hand.

"Again, thank you very much for your help, warrior." he said before saying farewell.

"All's well ends well..." muttered Sour as they walked out of the door.

* * *

><p>"Please! We'll do anything! I beg you good sir, please just take her! I think I'm going insane!"<p>

"Sabrina isn't a bad person. She probably got angry at something. Well, it's time for us to go!"

"HALELUYAH!" screamed the nurses in unison.

* * *

><p><strong>Between Henesys, Ellina and Nautilus Harbour<br>Another Three-path Crossway: 6.59 PM**

"Well, looks like we'll be saying goodbye for now then, eh Kero?" said the pirate.

"Yeah. It's been nice knowing you." said his new friend.

"You need to teach me the Thousand Years of Death some day!" added Mad.

"Maybe I'll come to Perion and have a look around. I heard it's a pretty cool place."

"Cool? You crazy? Temperatures up there reach forty Celsius." commented Sabrina

"Ok then maybe not."

"Bye Sour!" the three warriors yelled

"See you!" added the pirate, before disappearing over the horizon and into the setting sun.

"Let's go home." said Kero, patting his friend on the back as the four of them walked towards Ellinia.

* * *

><p><strong>Looks like Team Nine cleared their first mission! But just what is waiting for them round the corner at Perion? New chapters every 2-5 days.<strong>


	7. Filler: First Kiss?

**NOTICE: This is just a filler chapter, and I recommend you read this chapter for the laughs.**

**NOTICE 2: This was uploaded at the same time as chapter six, so you might of skipped that one. Because I only have one hit on that one...  
><strong>

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own MapleStory or its characters (owned by Nexon) except my own OC's. Those in this chapter include: Team 9 [Kero Mizrak, Cruz, Jake (Mad), Sabrina Friend].**

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 7 [Filler]: First Kiss?<strong>

"Zzzzzz...Taco...Slash Blast...Pikachu..."

"Even with a pillow in his mouth he can still talk..." muttered Kero, trying to mute Mad's sleep talking. They were camping out for the night near Ellinia, high up on a tree overlooking a beach. Trees in Ellinia can be so tangled at times, they can create solid platforms up to twenty metres wide and one metre thick. The tent was on one. Kero got out. He needed some air. He saw Sabrina on the edge of the tree platform and he sat down with her.

"Hi Kero..." she said.

"What's the matter?"

"Oh, nothing. I can't sleep with that sleep talker in the tent."

"There's something else. I can tell."

Then, Kero noticed some blood on the ledge. Kero's subconscious was thinking the most perverted thoughts, but he suppressed them. He realized Sabrina had noticed him noticing the blood.

"Goddamned Gangsta Magez..." She swore and spat out a red liquid.

"So that's it. I have some potion left if you want some."

"Nah, I'm ok. Thanks for thinking about me though."

"I'm a gentleman, what do you expect."

"I doubt it." she said whilst toying with her hair, making Kero blush.

"Stop staring at me!" she added, shocking Kero.

"You really are in a bad mood aren't you?"

"Yep. Not in the mood for shit..."

"You sure don't worry about the lid for that tongue of yours."

"Not at all."

They sat in silence, looking at the moon. Sabrina then broke the silence.

"That moon sure is beautiful tonight, isn't it?"

"Yeah, beautiful like...like..." said Kero, realizing that he had probably done the worst flirting attempt in history.

"Me?"

"No...I mean yes...erm...I don't even know. Sorry, I guess."

"That made no sense..."

"I know...I tried to tell you something but I guess I failed...again." said Kero, his blush amplifying even further. He then felt something on his lips. It felt like lipstick. Sabrina wore lipstick? Last time he looked, she didn't. His brain took a moment to react as his eyes opened slightly in shock. Sabrina cut the gaffer tape and said:

"You talk too much."

* * *

><p><strong>Poor Kero, no-one likes being Gaffer Tape'd. New chapters every 2-5 days.<strong>


	8. Mission Two

**NOTICE: Sorry about how long it took. Real life issues. And the chapter is pretty short...but never mind ^_^**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own MapleStory or its characters (owned by Nexon) except my own OC's. Those in this chapter include: Team 9 [Kero Mizrak, Cruz, Jake (Mad), Sabrina Friend].**

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 8: Mission Two<strong>

**Watchtower  
>Perion East Entrance<strong>

"Halt. Identification please." said the guard, toying with his rubber ball, without even looking at the person who was at the door.

"Hello Mike."

"Oh, hi there Cruz. So your students passed their first mission?"

"Yeah. They had a hard time. The Gangsta Magez got involved."

"Gangsta Magez? Dude, you should have got extra money. To pay for the damage."

Kero was getting uneasy. He had given Sour his share of the cash, which was the extra.

"Kero? What's up?" asked Mad.

"We did get extra. I gave it to Sour. If Cruz finds out, I'm mincemeat"

"I see... Why did you give it to him?"

"If I didn't, I would still be mincemeat."

"Good point..."

As the gates opened, the four warriors walked in and the three students said farewell and went to their respective homes. Cruz had other things on his mind...

* * *

><p><strong>Dances with Balrog's office<br>Warrior Sanctuary**

"Well I'm impressed. Your crew is the first one back. It's only midday. I guess the mission itself went well?"

"Yes, Dances. The mission went without fatalities. Despite suffering some mortal injuries, Mad somehow recovered. And Sabrina recovered quickly."

_**WHAT!**_

"This was a simple mission! What was the reason behind the injuries?"

"It turned out my squad had been ambushed by the Gangsta Magez whilst I was tending some negotiations."

"Hmmm. Ok then, I want you to explain how the hell did a kid recover from a mortal injury."

"Beats me."

Suddenly, the doors opened.

"Ahhh, first one back from the...damnit!" said the man walking in.

"Second place as always, Drake..." bragged Cruz.

"That pirate did all the hard work."

"Including saving your life?"

"Shut up..."

The doors opened again. A beautiful woman in her thirties appeared. She had emerald eyes, curly blonde hair and pale skin. She wore violet "Platina" armour and wielded a diamond short sword and a shield. She always looked confident and was impatient.

"Hello Cruz, Drake, Dances." she said.

"Wow, three completed missions in one minute. You sure have some synchronized timing." commented Dances.

"Really? Anyways, the mission was a success, no injuries acquired but we were stalled by a clan of thieves."

"See Cruz, can't you be more like Paige?" asked Dances.

"How did he screw up?"

"Turns out his squad fought the Gangsta Magez whilst he was off getting info. Two of them were badly beaten."

Everyone glared at Cruz, who rolled his eyes. Dances with Balrog got out three papers.

"Your second missions. This is a very important mission. You cannot fail."

"And you're sure these won't have the Gangsta Magez butting in?" asked Cruz.

"Read the paper, dimwit..." said Drake.

**Mission rank:** C**  
>Type: <strong>Retrieval (Scroll) **  
>Location: <strong>Forest of Evil, Ellinia**  
>Client: <strong>Grendel **  
>Target(If applicable): <strong>?  
><strong>Summary:<strong> A very important scroll has been stolen. It is the scroll to the Shadow Seal Unleasher. As many of you know, the Shadow Seal has been used to lock down many evils from this world. If someone unleashes these evils, who knows what could happen. The scroll is in the hands of a weak gang, making this an easy mission.

"And why don't them lazy assed mages do this themselves?" asked Paige.

"Do I have to explain everything?" asked Dances. "Just get on with it"

"And why the forest of evil?" asked Cruz.

"The hell do I know. Now just get on with it!"

"You should know better, Cruz. Never ask him questions when he's in a bad mood." said Drake. "Besides, if you're going to be my rival, you need basic knowledge first, am I right? No one can compare to Drake. Nor my squad. Even though they do suck..."

"Were you saying something?" asked Cruz as he took his eyes off his book. Paige and Dances burst into laughter as Drake was left looking like an idiot.

"Let's just get outta here." muttered the ticked off Drake.

"You leave in a day! At dawn!" yelled Dances as the three left the room

* * *

><p><strong>One day later<br>Forest of Evil  
>12:01 PM<strong>

"Not again! Why me? I said we'd get here by noon!" said Cruz.

"Again...one minute late!" yelled Sabrina.

"Don't remind me. We have enough trouble as it is."

Kero and Mad decided to look around. They met up with some other squadrons: five magician squads, three Cygnus knight squads and one pirate squad.

"Wow, what is with all the people?" asked Mad.

"I have no idea, but there's one guy over there that makes me uneasy. The Cygnus knight." said Kero, pointing at a Night Walker.

"I have no idea who he is, but his look gives me the creeps." added Mad.

"Yeah...and isn't something missing?"

"His eyebrows! Wow, what is with that kiddo?" asked Mad as the boy disappeared. Kero felt something on his back. It felt sharp.

"So you guys are here too." said a familiar voice. It wasn't the Night Walker. He had simply done that to kill an approaching slime.

"If it isn't the one and only SourPunch." said Mad.

"You got that right buddy." he added. "What are you doing here anyways?"

"Mission. You?" said Kero.

"Mission, of course. But of course this seems more like a damn field trip. Tell the rookies to get bent."

Mad then grabbed Sour and pulled his head backwards.

"Bent enough already?"

"Not quite!" he exclaimed as he did a back flip, kicking Mad in the face and sending him to the very edge of the tree platform.

"_Oh, hi there Jake!"_

"Wha...hey watch it! Careful, you're going to..."

_**AAAAAAHHHHHHH!**_

The girl who had pushed Mad off the ledge just looked at him with an innocent look as his face smacked against a log.

"Oops. Sorry. I get carried away." she said.

Sour then whispered in Kero's ear.

"Hot stuff you got in Perion. You should go for her."

Sour ended up on his rear end, rubbing his head.

"_Hey! Everyone in your respective groups!"_ said a booming voice. It was Grendel.

A semi conscious Mad climbed back up and went back with Cruz and the others. He looked at everyone here. Team Eight and Team Ten were here. Team Ten was the team Paige had. Victor looked the same as always. He wondered if he and Drake were related. They had the same red eyes and their hair wasn't that different. Sarah was in red Shark armour and she had long black straight hair. She had a basic spear. Kero wondered if she and Sabrina were twins. Mad wondered if he had a chance to murder her after pushing him off the ledge. Morton had dark purple hair and was a bit overweight. Calling him fat was suicidal. He was incredibly powerful with the Pole Arm and was one of the strongest here.

Then there was Team Ten. There was Natasha. She looked like Paige Junior with her hair looking just like Paige's. She used an umbrella to fight and a shield that looked weaker than a plank. What a weirdo. Then there was Paula. She had her unique way of fighting: with a half-sword, half-shield. To be honest, she looked more like Sabrina than Sarah did. She had blue eyes and curly dark red hair. Very dark. Finally there was Oshua. She was a cruel person to be honest. When it came to fighting she was merciless. She had purple eyes and short, black hair. But she seemed to get on well with Paige. Maybe someday she will teach her some manners.

"Hello and I would like to thank you all for coming." said Grendel. "As you may or may not know, we are dealing with a gang who has stolen one of the most secret scrolls in this world, and in the wrong hands may destroy this world."

"Then why assign us rookies for the job?" asked a Dawn Warrior.

"For two reasons. One is that we cannot afford to use many elites at the moment. Secondly, all rookies will need their big mission at one point."

* * *

><p><strong>Somewhere in Sleepywood<strong>

"Buahahahahah! Gahahaha! Muahaha! Hehehe! I'm so evil! Haha!" said the boy as he grabbed an object that was either wrapped in toilet paper or a mummy. It looked humanoid. He put it on his back and walked out of the cave. He opened a green scroll and disappeared, but not before saying:

"To Ellinia!"

* * *

><p>"The plan is the following. All squadrons will head to the following point, and then break up, covering all the area where the headquarters might be. In the fastest possible way." said Grendel, using magic to show everyone a map of the area.<p>

"Is that all?" someone asked.

"No, it is not all. If you find the base, then get all the Intel you can get before returning here. We will organize an attack plan after that. Any questions?"

Everyone shook their heads and all went to the centre of the area.

Grendel turned around to see a boy with a thing on his back jump down.

"Perfect timing as always. The hired adventurers have gone to the designated point, and will flank out. It's your job to take them down one by one. I have a distraction for the masters. It's your job to take down them juveniles!"

"Yes, master. My puppets and I will obliterate them!"

"Don't get overconfident. Last time you did, them Cygnus Knights got the better of you."

"But this time..."

"You will not fail!"

'Grendel' transformed into his true self. He wore blue robes and was very hunched back. His eyes were shaded and he had a maniacal grin.

"Master's desires shall soon come true! And I will finally get a pay rise!"

* * *

><p><strong>What will happen next?<br>Will Team Nine fall into the trap?  
>Who is this mysterious duo?<br>Where is the real Grendel?**

**New chapters every 2-5 days.**


	9. Puppet Assault

**NOTICE: Another long wait. Sorry to all my readers.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own MapleStory or its characters (owned by Nexon) except my own OC's. Those in this chapter include: Team 9 [Kero Mizrak, Cruz, Jake (Mad), Sabrina Friend] and Teams 8-10.**

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 9: Puppet Assault!<strong>

All twelve squadrons (Five Magician, Three Cygnus Knight, Three Warrior and One Pirate) arrived at the centre of the Forest of Evil.

"So this is the spot..." said the Pirate squad leader.

"Yeah...we'd better get going now." said a Cygnus squad leader.

The squadrons dashed off in their individual directions just as an explosion destroyed the giant branch platform they were on. A couple of weaker members had gotten a bit burnt but nothing major.

"They know we're here! We should hurry before anybody else comes!" yelled Cruz, and with that all the squads dashed away. A boy watched them from the trees. He jumped down and put his hands together.

"Macro Skill! Puppet Clones!"

Many large puppets appeared out of thin air and then transformed into the boy, a short kid covered by a blue cloak. His eyes were concealed and a fringe of hair was visible.

"Macro Skill! Mini Puppet Summoning!"

Small puppets, slightly resembling a human, with a smaller body and a huge head appeared. They were half the boy's size. Then, the puppets disguised as the boy used Mana strings to hold onto the small puppets.

"Fan out! Pursue the squadrons until the traps. Then take down the students!"

The large puppets nodded, and went after the squadrons.

* * *

><p>"Something isn't right, Cruz. I think we should go back..."<p>

Mad had been a nervous wreck for the five minutes they had spent after the explosion. Kero decided to try and comfort him. But before he could, they arrived at an old rope bridge.

"Wow, this wasn't on the map. And my sense of direction never fails." remarked Cruz.

Cruz took a step on the bridge.

"Don't! It's a trap!"

Too late for the mentor to realize, a bubble of Mana had completely engulfed him. Kero turned around, only to see a boy and a puppet.

"Behind you!"

Mad was stabbed with a concealed blade in the mini puppet's arm. The boy then pulled the strings, making the puppet reveal a concealed gun and began shooting at him. Mad shielded himself as Kero tried jumping up and coming down on the arm, yet a blade stabbed him in the nuts. Sabrina unleashed a Power Strike, leaving a long scratch mark on the mini puppet's face. It then did the same to her, only not such a deep cut.

"I would get an antidote if I were you. The blade's toxic." said the boy.

Sabrina wiped her face and then grabbed a disinfectant from her small bag. Kero and Mad covered her. The puppet opened its mouth to reveal a semi-automatic machine gun. Kero and Mad shielded themselves as the bullets ricocheted off their shields. The two ran forward, covering themselves with the shield.

One of the worst things a warrior can do is charge blindly into the enemy. And that is what the two were doing. The puppet tripped them both up and stabbed Mad in the back. Kero responded with a roundhouse kick, yet it was easily blocked by the puppet's arm. He then jumped up and spun, causing his other foot to smash the puppet's head. The boy smiled.

"You are strong. I will admit that. But are you strong enough!"

"Stronger than you will ever be, you puppet freak."

"I like your attitude, kid. Show me what you got!"

Kero entered sword to sword combat, matching the puppet blow for blow. Out of the blue, the puppet's head sprung forward, knocking Kero back a long way. Mad jumped high, with his sword glowing blue.

"Power Strike!"

The boy pulled the strings, making the puppet defend itself and shoot at him. Too late, the boy realized that the warrior wasn't aiming at the puppet. The boy was hit hard on the head with the sharp blade and Mad smiled at the results. The sword had gone halfway down his head. To everyone's surprise, the boy was unharmed and the skin on one side of his face just fell away like wood. His left eye, the edge of his mouth and his left had fallen in wooden splinters and were revealed to be a puppet.

"A puppet? This is getting interesting. This means the puppet master is elsewhere." thought Cruz. "And that means this whole mission is a set up!"

Mad and Kero had been repelled and their swords gave off a green glow.

"Dual Slash Blast!"

* * *

><p>"Master!" a young Dawn Warrior yelled as his master was trapped in a bubble.<p>

"Behind you!" replied the master. The boy turned around to see a puppet blade impale him. He coughed up blood and toppled over.

"No! You monster!"

Another boy and a girl attacked the puppet.

"Take my Lightning Spirit!"

"And my Dark Spirit!"

Two being emerged and the kids yelled in unison.

"Fear the Cygnus Knights!"

The puppet easily blocked the Thunder Breakers punches and the Night Walker's throwing stars and within minutes they were lying on the floor, blood pouring out of them. The puppet then opened his mouth and put the machine gun extension in the Mana bubble.

"Your body may be strong. Godly strong. But your inner organs cannot be strengthened. You will see." said the boy controlling the puppet. The puppet then began breathing a poison gas down the pipe and into the bubble.

"In a couple of minutes you will die. Enjoy them while you can."

* * *

><p>"What just happened?" asked a confused woman as she was trapped in a Mana bubble.<p>

"Out of nowhere a puppet slashed at her students. They avoided the strikes and they launched their magic bolts at the target.

"Pitiful little mages." said the puppeteer as his puppet ate the magic bolts.

"What did he just do?" asked a student.

"I dunno. Ask the genius." replied his companion.

"Look out!" said the third one.

A giant magic bolt pulsing with evil energy smashed into the three of them. As the smoke cleared, they all looked worn by the impact.

"Magic claw!"

The puppet master responded to the puny attack with a magic claw of his own. A barrage of magic claws tore through one of the student's skin, killing her instantly.

The other two went on the offensive, only to be destroyed by a sword strike. One of them was still standing.

"What are you?"

"I am a puppeteer."

"You're a monster!

"Do you ever shut up? Oh well. Soon the poison will kick in."

"Poison?" asked the mage, scared to the bone. He threw up and collapsed to the floor. On his knees, he made a last effort, but failed.

"Finally...he was a pesky one." said the boy as he commanded his puppet to poison the bubble.

* * *

><p>"What the hell?" said a man as he was caught in a bubble.<p>

His three students turned around. Two of them fired their guns and one of them sent a devastating punch, easily snapping one of the puppet's blades. The two gunners fired their bullets at the elbow joints, causing the puppet's blades to become jammed. The man grinned.

"Good teamwork guys! Keep it up!"

The puppet master frowned. Its arms separated from its body and flew towards the Brawler, to no avail. He grabbed the blades poking out of the arms and used them as swords to sever the Mana strings connecting the puppet to its master.

"You lot are exceptional. Looks like I will have to use a decent amount of my power. Better cut this short or I might run out of Mana." said the puppeteer.

The two gunners jumped and fired an array of bullets at the boy. They all penetrated him, but they were shocked as only splinters erupted. The brawler used the arms of the puppet as a javelin to attack the boy, yet the latter connected a Mana string to them and turned them back, stabbing him in the leg.

"Is that all you got? You're gonna have to have a lot more than that to take down me, SourPunch!" he said as he took the blades out got in a defensive position with his teammates. The boy's hood fell down and he yelled. He was then surrounded by dark energy. Flame tattoo-like marks flowed across his face. His hair turned from brown to purple. His blue robes turned black.

"Fear my wrath!" said the boy.

"Bring it on you pile of sawdust!" replied Sour.

* * *

><p>Kero, Mad and Sabrina were all worn out, and the heavy downpour wasn't helping. The puppet and his master had received a few scratches but not much. Mad looked in terrible shape psychologically. Kero and Sabrina were worn out as well.<p>

"Mad, are you ok?" asked Sabrina.

"Yeah, you don't look in good shape yourself there..." he replied.

Out of the blue, several bullets headed straight for Mad. Kero dived in front of him, shielding him from the blasts. The puppet then aimed at Kero and successfully wounded him three times in a row. The weakened boy then collapsed.

"Kero!"

Mad let a roar to the sky as purple energy surrounded him. His teeth grew sharp, his nails turned into claws. The purple tint of the aura was in his eyes. He then charged at full force against the puppet.

"Pfft, what is this? A freak show?"

Mad's sword tore straight through the puppet and aimed for the master. The puppeteer transformed. Dark energy surrounded him, but before anything else could happen, Mad made a lunge for it. He evaded the furious warrior until the latter was out of breath. He saw this as his chance. Flame-like tattoos went across his face. Or so he planned for them to do, because at the last moment, Sabrina and Kero had charged straight at him. He teleported out of the way and then opened his eyes in shock.

"Damnit! I'm out of Mana!" he said before disappearing in a small cloud of smoke.

Mad roared again and looked around for his foe before preparing to jump away. He felt a hand on his arm. He turned around and slashed the person who had attempted to stop him with his claws.

"What was that for?" asked Sabrina, recovering from a powerful blow.

"You stay out of my way! I'll destroy him! I will!" he said with spite in his voice.

The Mana bubble disappeared and Cruz then gave Mad a powerful blow to the stomach. The fangs receded, his claws turned into fingers and his eyes returned to their normal blue colour before they shut.

* * *

><p>"You did well, team!" said the pirate as he fell out of the Mana bubble. The puppet had been reduced to splinters and the boy had disappeared.<p>

"Time we found the real one behind this!" he said.

* * *

><p>"So, Francis. I see that a few teams survived your puppets." said the fake Grendel.<p>

"Yes master, I am afraid so. One magician squad, the three warrior squads and the pirate squad survived." said the puppeteer. "One warrior squadron and the magician squad are in no condition to fight."

Out of nowhere, twenty people landed on the tree platform, five of them badly hurt.

"This ends now."

* * *

><p><strong>Looks like the squads caught up with the real puppeteer and his master. The most epic battle of all time (not really) is about to unfold!<strong>

**New chapters every 2-5 days.**


	10. Vs Francis!

**NOTICE: I really ought to write faster, this one took over a week. Sorry to keep you waiting.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own MapleStory or its characters (owned by Nexon) except my own OC's.**

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 10: Vs Francis!<strong>

Twenty pairs of eyes all staring at the two hunchbacked people. The boy looked at the man and he nodded. The boy threw the thing on his back in the air and held it in his hands. He unwrapped the bandages, revealing a large puppet. He connected his fingers to it by Mana strings.

"You had us fooled long enough! I am Mighty Titan, and if you do not surrender, we will force you to beg for mercy!" said the pirate captain. He wore brown pioneer overalls, with the bottoms darker than the top. He had his hair closely shaved and had very tanned skin. He looked a lot like SourPunch. He wore a black sea captain hat and had a small scar on his eyelid.

"Surrender? Get real. I will never surrender!" said the man. At that instant, two warriors, a pirate and a magician all charged at him. He jumped up to a higher tree platform, luring the masters away from their students. Only Drake had stayed behind, he was in no condition to fight. Ten juvenile warriors walked up to the puppeteer.

"Pfft. You are pathetic. My puppet will destroy you all." said he said as his puppet launched a throwing star from its neck. It hit a pirate and she clutched her shoulder as she pulled the star out.

"You're going down!" yelled Natasha. A few others agreed with her.

"Do you know who I am? I am Francis, the mighty puppeteer! And now you will die!"

Francis launched several ninja stars from the puppets neck, yet Natasha deflected them right back at the puppet with her umbrella. She had a confident smile. Everyone else had a shocked face as all the stars impacted the puppets joints.

"Gah, I did not expect such a bold move." remarked Francis. "No matter, I shall still destroy you with my invincible puppet!"

Only one person did not react to this: SourPunch. He was leaning against a tree without a care in the world. Out of the blue, four ninja stars flew at him and he grabbed them between his fingers, without even opening his eyes. He turned to Francis with a soul piercing gaze, which would leave even the mightiest of warriors intimidated.

"You talk of the puppet as if it was a unit." said Sour. Everyone looked at him, without a clue of what he was talking about. Francis, on the other hand, grinned.

"From what we guess, the puppet is one. And that is why so many failed. Because the puppet can divide into at least three pieces. The arms and the main body. And chances are the legs can come off as well. That means we are up against five opponents, each with their own weapon."

"What on earth are you talking about? You have the intelligence of a pile of shit..." said Oshua.

"Think of it as an enemy with Swiss army knives in each hand. A weapon inside a weapon."

Kero was agreeing with Oshua and everyone else, until he remembered part of his previous fight.

"_You are strong. I will admit that. But are you strong enough!"_

"_Stronger than you will ever be, you puppet freak."_

"_I like your attitude, kid. Show me what you got!" _

_Kero entered sword to sword combat, matching the puppet blow for blow. Out of the blue, the puppet's head sprung forward, knocking Kero back a long way._

"Of course! When I fought the puppet before, it detached its head to knock me over!" said Kero. "The puppet can detach and use its limbs as weapons, not to mention the weapons inside the limbs. So it's a weapon inside a weapon inside a weapon."

"A weapon inside a weapon inside a weapon?" asked Victor. "You've been a bit crazy, but man, this is a lot even for you."

A heated debate opened up and everyone was against Kero, except for Sour who knew that the puppeteer was going to strike any moment now. And he did.

"_Hit the floor!"_

God bless whoever said that because a second later, machine gun fire ripped through the crowd, wounding several people.

"Guess that broke the argument." groaned Sabrina as she got up from the floor.

"Macro Skill! Titanic Drill!"

Mighty dropped to the floor and launched a kick whilst standing on one arm and one foot, sending the hunchback into the air. He then used Mana to jump up high into the sky and held the man upside down and spun as he fell back to the ground. He penetrated several tree platforms before being knocked off course and drilling vertically through a giant tree trunk. He ran out of momentum just before busting out of the trunk. He swore as the man revealed to be a disguised log. He jumped back up to the higher tree platforms as Cruz, Drake and Paige were trying to defeat him. Who knew if it was him or another log?

"Ugh, we can't hold off for much longer." said Paige as she avoided an exploding sphere of Mana.

"We can...just watch me!" replied Drake.

"I swear, you have roared way too often in the past few months. If you wanna be deaf then fine, but count me out." said Cruz.

"Too late! Dragon Roar!"

A purple shockwave expanded in every direction, destroying almost everything in a 50 metre radius except for the warriors. The hunchbacked man was blown away and turned into a log. Many more copies who were hiding in the trees were blown back and turned into a log. The real one landed outside the blast radius, hurt, but nothing major. He jumped back in with exploding Mana spheres in his hands.

* * *

><p>"Macro Skill! Titanic Hammer!"<p>

SourPunch kicked Francis into the sky and jumped up to an incredible height. He locked his hands together and making them glow blue with energy. Out of nowhere, an arm grabbed Sour's foot and stabbed it with its concealed blade. The puppet then moved on its own, pulling a Mana string to bring SourPunch to the floor.

"You are strong, young one. I would expect no less from the disciple of the Mighty Titan." said Francis. "But you are not strong enough!"

"Macro Skill! Puppet Clones!"

Out of nowhere, the puppet divided into two, then four, then...thirty two. The puppets created a pyramid like formation of Mana strings, each puppet holding two puppets, leaving sixteen puppets able to attack.

"I control them all. You cannot destroy me. There are too many."

"Yes we can! Charge! For the Maple Land!" yelled an anonymous adventurer. Everyone charged. So did all the puppets. Everyone entered the fight. Mages were at a disadvantage, as they lacked close combat ability, yet fought just as fiercely and fearlessly as everyone else.

The blue haired boy looked across the horizon. He had heard an explosion earlier and hopped off the tree and into the forest. Out of nowhere, a red headed girl appeared.

* * *

><p>"Hello Apollo."<p>

"Hey Phoenix. Listen, I'm busy, ok? I have to see what happened out there."

"Let me come, brother."

"No. You stay here. If I don't come back in ten, then call for help."

"No way! There is no way I stay here. Besides, I heard that annoying pirate was there. I can't wait to..."

"Quiet!"

An explosion of green light appeared in the forest. The siblings jumped through the trees towards their destination.

* * *

><p>Purple eyes stared at the puppeteer. A green aura covering the body. A draconic head composed of aura. Fangs that could shred through almost anything. Almost everyone had been knocked down and Oshua had begun a transformation and had rampaged through seven puppets and was aiming for the eighth.<p>

"Wow, she sure is mad. Even you haven't gotten this angry." said Kero.

"Yeah..." replied an uninterested Mad, as he rolled out of the way of an ice ball. Oshua's draconic head of aura began breathing ice at the Mana strings, keeping the puppets in place. It then chomped through the strings as the green aura intensified. Oshua then spun around, releasing a blizzard, which froze Francis in place and destroyed most of the puppet clones. Unfortunately, a lot of her teammates were now stuck on the platform.

"Wh...What are you?"

"I am Oshua. Do you want to know what you are? DEAD!" she yelled as she spat out an ice ball barrage. As they impacted the puppeteer, they blew his flesh off his body. To her dismay, the Francis was just a puppet clone. The real Francis thrusted his arm into Oshua's stomach. As she reeled back, all her Mana was locked. Her aura disappeared, her fangs receeded.

"Take that! Not so strong now are you?" mocked the puppeteer.

Oshua then exploded in a flash of green. The aura burned brighter than ever before. A second dragon head appeared and a tail of Mana emerged from the intense green aura. Her eyes looked evil.

"Note to self: Get out of here." said Kero.

"Get out of here!" a voice screamed. It was Natasha. Kero, Mad, Sour and a few other people still standing grabbed their teammates and got out of there. A ball of electricity exploded, destroying half of the tree platform that they were standing on.

Oshua's dragon heads bit the puppet on the arms, causing them to come off. They launched straight at her like rockets, and the poison blades impaled her.

"We're toast..." said Sabrina.

"Toast? We're in deeper shit than toast, sis." replied Mad.

As Francis extracted the blades from her chest, she smiled. A red liquid bubbled out of the wound, reacting with the aura, turning it into a green gas. The wounds slowly began healing

"What? They healed? But how?" asked Francis.

"Die!" screamed Oshua as her fangs began filling with a green liquid. She bit Francis on the shoulder and he recoiled away in pain.

He held his wound, and asked: "What did you do to me?"

"I gave you a taste of your own medicine. So you might want to find an antidote."

"This can't be! No! No! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

* * *

><p>"Ground Smash!"<p>

The hunchback jumped as purple blasts emerged from the ground. Out of nowhere, a fist barrage knocked the man off the ledge.

_**SMASH!**_

Francis, the puppet and his master were all in a pile. The five masters arrived with the fifteen juveniles Oshua calmed down and her aura turned into a sphere. She lay it down carefully next to the pile.

"_Get the fuck out of here!"_

The sphere exploded, blasting almost everyone away, wrecking everything in a 100 metre radius. About a minute later, people began waking up from the blast. Out of the smoke, two figures appeared. They were both beaten to a pulp, but they were there. And armed.

"Prepare to die."

* * *

><p><strong>The adventurers have lost! Or is there still a shimmer of hope? Is it really a grim victory for Francis and his master? And what of Phoenix and Apollo?<strong>

**New chapters every 2-10 days.**


	11. Apollo's Mission

**NOTICE: Slow update...again. Sorry for letting you guys down :/**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own MapleStory or its characters (owned by Nexon) except my own OC's.**

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 11: Apollo's Mission<strong>

A man holding explosive spheres. A boy holding a puppet with five different machine guns. Twenty doomed adventurers. A boy and a girl hid in the trees nearby. The boy adjusted his glasses.

"It is time..."

"I understand..."

Out of nowhere, a flaming ice arrow landed on the floor just in front of the villainous duo, and then exploded, knocking them both back. The two siblings jumped down to attack.

"Who are you?" asked Francis.

"Apollo!"

"Phoenix!"

"So you two, hand over the scroll! Right now!" said the siblings in unison.

"What! How did you know of the scroll?" asked the man.

"We ask the questions! You answer and give us what we want!"

"Never!"

"Phoenix, you take the right, I'll take the left!" yelled Apollo.

"Right!" replied his red haired sister.

The siblings bombarded the duo with what seemed like a random barrage of attacks, yet the system was perfectly designed for optimal use.

"Poison Breath!"

A single cloud of venomous gas flew out of Phoenix's mouth, causing Francis and his master to choke.

"Thunderbolt!"

A bolt of lightning emerged from inside the very cloud itself, electrifying everything within 5 metres of the cloud. The villains were left momentarily fazed, enough time for Phoenix and Apollo to swipe the scroll.

"Too slow." said the older sibling as he landed alongside his younger sister. Francis and his master then glared at them and retreated. For a moment everyone was silent. Then a roar of triumph, as loud as could be, emerged from the wounded crowd. They had entered a trap, planned by someone stronger than steel and smarter than god knows what, and come out on top. As everybody began to calm down, Mighty Titian had come to a realization, a grim one.

"You do realize those goons are going to come back with reinforcements, right? And if that wasn't the real Grendel, then where is he?"

This revived the uproar, and once again calmed down, this time by Apollo. In the end, almost everyone had agreed to scout the area for any survivors of the previous attack, and then head to the Magic Library, home of Grendel, to find any clues of where he had gone.

* * *

><p>A night walker ran across the snow, wearing a torn jacked and some old jeans. He had pale blue eyes and dark brown hair. He was destroying zombie after zombie under the dark night, only illuminated by the distant volcanoes. He jumped over one and smashed it with his fist. He then used a giant "Shuriken" to chop down five more. He then ran towards the exit of the forest. The forest of dead trees.<p>

He passed a figure and halted, thinking it was a ghost. Strange, as the only undead beings here were zombies. He reached out to touch it, to see if he was right, but the phantom was faster. He entered the thief's body and quickly took control. The body collapsed, and moments later, it reawoke, with an eerie purple aura and eyes.

"Dances wasn't as strong as I thought. He will pay for messing with the great Cyrus Indigo!" laughed the possessed body.

* * *

><p>"Hey, guys. Take a look at this!" said a magician, opening up a box in the Magic Library. An old man with white robes and a top hat was stuffed in there.<p>

"Ack! Thank you for getting me out of here. It was stuffy, damp and freezing." remarked Grendel. "Did those fiends steal anything from here?"

"This, but we got it back." said the magician.

"Thank you ma'am...what is this? The...They stole...BUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Everyone looked perplexed at Grendel who was laughing like a madman, until he managed to say:

"They stole the fake...the fake Shadow Seal Unleasher! The real one is with me! It's in my scroll holster and requires that one over there to open it and separate it from my body." he said, pointing at a scroll nearby.

"So we did all this for nothing?" asked a very pissed Sabrina.

"Yup."

"Erm...what is the Shadow Seal Unleasher anyways?" asked Mad, who still had a priceless perplexed look on his face.

"Let me start off from the beginning. A long time ago, there was a huge threat to this world. His name: The Black Mage."

The black mage started off as a normal human. But he grew to be a monster. A monster of pure evil. His goal was to take over this world. His powers were so great, the strongest person alive today would look puny compared to him. There was much resistance, all in vain. Out of nowhere, five brave heroes arrived and fought this monster so many times. And then, and then, it ended. One final battle on the snowy mountains of Rien. The heroes had a plan, to seal up the Mage once and for all. But they failed miserably. The seal was incomplete, only a tiny bit, but still incomplete. Before the seal fully captured the Mage, he blasted the heroes with a powerful curse. One hero died, two were frozen, and two of their fates are unknown. There are rumours of a secret organization born to free the Mage from the seal. And they are after my scroll. To free the evil, that came so close to destroying this world. Any questions?

"So we are in danger of annihilation and the Erev Council has not mentioned a word?" asked Cruz. "Oh, and the scroll to access your scroll holster containing the scroll to unlock the scroll, I mean seal, is missing. So is your scroll holster. And where the hell are Phoenix and Apollo?"

"Shit..."

* * *

><p>A girl in her late teens walked towards the forest. She wore a black T-Shirt, a miniskirt and had emerald coloured eyes. Her blonde hair made her stand out in the dark forest. Her boyfriend had gone into the woods without her, again.<p>

"The forest of dead trees, eh. Can't wait all day..." she said, dashing into the forest, until she saw a figure walking her way.

"Jason? Hey Jason, nice to see you!" she said, giving him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. The boy looked shocked. "Jason?"

"Get off me you crazy woman! My name is not Jason!" he said, kicking her away.

"That's no way to treat your girlfriend..." she said.

"You are one crazy woman..."

"You are one crazy man..."

The boy jumped into the air and launched a barrage of "Shuriken", also known as ninja stars. The girl countered with her own.

"Tough one aren't you? Take this!" he yelled, launching a larger barrage. The barrage was countered again.

"Jason, what is wrong with you!" she asked, desperately panicking and out of breath.

"I'm...not...JASON!" he roared, sending a powerful beam of dark energy at her. As the smoke cleared, all that was left was a bloody corpse leaning against a tree. One arm was loose and some of the skin had melted off. Her blonde hair was now a burnt mess, dyed red by her bleeding cranium. Indigo then sent an electric pulse towards the body. It awoke, with a menacing look in its purple eyes.

"Hello. I am Cyrus Indigo, your new master. And you will obey me."

* * *

><p>"Hello."<p>

"Ugh...where am I?"

"First you need some rest. Want some hot chocolate?"

"No thanks...I have no idea where I am and I'm not sure _who_ I am."

"Amnesia, eh. Hmmmm...I'll tell you when we get back to the cabin."

"Wha...what's a cabin?"

"Seriously? It's a type of..."

"I remember! It's a small building!"

"Congratulations, you're on the road to recovery...not!"

"Look, just tell me who I am, and get me out of here."

"Fine, this may hurt a little."

A pickaxe was released and it hacked away at the surface surrounding the amnesiatic, who hit his head on the floor and remembered something.

_**-Flashback-**_

"_Take this! My ultimate attack!" he yelled as a big blue bear of energy came out of his weapon, cutting through the enemy, who was left slightly wounded._

"_Ugh, this is impossible! He's invincible!" said his best friend and the king of..._the king of what? The man had forgotten.

"_We have to use it!" said a third colleague. "It's our only hope!"_

"_I don't like the look of this. My cards say this won't work!" a fourth replied._

"_Let's do it!"_

"_Agreed. It's all or nothing!"_

"_I got a bad feeling about this."_

_They all put their hands together to form a sphere of dark and light energy._

"_Full power seal! Prepare to be locked away forever!"_

"_Nooooooooo! You shall not succeed! Take this! Ice Curse of a Thousand Years!"_

"_Whoah! Look out!"_

_An explosion blasted everyone, either launching them away or freezing them. One of them exploded in the centre of the ice. Another was launched far away in an ice cube. He was frozen on the spot. He didn't see the other two's fate, but all he knew was that the seal had failed. It was only a matter of time until the monster was awakened..._

_**-End of flashback-**_

* * *

><p><strong>A very short chapter, I know, but I had a lot of stuff to tell. If you can find three references to video games in chapters 4-11, then you deserve a cookie.<strong>

**Why were the duo after the scroll to free the Black Mage?  
>What will our heroes do now that the scroll has been stolen?<br>And where are Phoenix and Apollo?  
>What mayhem will Cyrus Indigo cause now that he is alive?<br>Who is this man with amnesia, and more importantly, what secrets does his past contain?**

**New chapters every 2-10 days.**


	12. Battle on the Zeppelin! Vs Gangsta Magez

**NOTICE: I have a decent excuse this time: Revising earlier chapters. Chapter 1 has been extended, Chapters 2-4 have been improved and Chapter 5 got a trimmed. And I'm still in the deadline xD**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own MapleStory or its characters (owned by Nexon) except my own OC's.**

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 12: Battle on the Zeppelin! Rematch: Vs Gangsta Magez!<strong>

"Haha! Easier than stealing candy from a baby, eh Apollo!" said Phoenix.

"Tsk, we still have a lot to do, Ember." said 'her' companion. "Light is waiting outside the forest and we can't keep him waiting. The zeppelin will get there any minute now."

"You're right, Frost. Let's move it!"

And with that, the villainous duo dashed even faster towards the edge of the forest, with a pirate hot on their trail.

"So predictable. They just told me where their hidden base will be." muttered SourPunch. "Now...how do I get the word to the rest...darn. I guess I could stall them until help arrives, but it could be help for either of us. And I'm outnumbered. Hmmmm..."

* * *

><p>A man in a black tuxedo, showing signs of aging, sat down in a chair.<p>

"Tony, sir. The zeppelin will arrive at its destination in three minutes!" said an assistant, who had just run in the room with the latest reports and pushed the door behind him, which shut.

"Thank you. You may hand the reports and leave." said Tony. He had a heavy Italian accent and spoke in a very posh manner. As the assistant dashed back to the deck, slamming his face in the door in the process, Tony looked at the reports. He smiled. After their failure in Henesys, Tony did not actually expect them to pass a mission. And they also beat up some Black Wings cronies.

"Excellent..."

* * *

><p>"One Thousand Years of Death!"<p>

SourPunch did his trademark attack on Phoenix and watched as she crashed into a tree and her disguise fell off.

"Wig, robes, oh! What have we here?" asked Sour, getting distracted with some plastic breasts. He barely avoided Apollo's disguise wrapped in a spiked ice ball, and countered with a backflip kick. They were on the forest floor, not a good place for ranged combat. SourPunch would have the edge until they got up into the canopy. The two gangsters launched Energy Bolts, easily absorbed by the pirate's fists, which proceeded to fire a powerful punch barrage at the unsuspecting magicians.

"You got some nerve using our own attacks against us, you pest!" scowled Frost.

"You do know I'm not finished yet, right?" asked SourPunch as he put his hands together and launched a devastating energy beam at Frost and Ember. It wasn't a direct hit, but it did its job, and destroyed a lot of wildlife in front of it. The villains would have been toasted if they had gotten hit harder, but for now, they were done medium rare.

"You call that a burn?" asked Ember.

"Not really, I call it a meal well cooked." said Sour, as he backflipped over his enemies and picked up a roasted squirrel.

"Ewww, gross!" said Frost. This gave SourPunch an idea. Frost ended up with a squirrel in her face. She threw it off in rage and impaled it with an ice arrow.

"Frozen food...you can't re-cook it you know." mentioned Sour. A noise, a very faint noise, only audible to the trained ear. It was a signal. SourPunch was distracted, trying to find the source and was frozen by Frost. She proceeded to beat him until he was unconscious.

"Take him prisoner?" asked Ember.

"You bet!"

* * *

><p>A shadow dashed through the forest. Kero Mizrak and Sabrina Friend had been sent out to find SourPunch. He had been gone for ten minutes past the deadline.<p>

"Hey Sab, you think he's ok?" asked Kero.

"Yeah, he should be doing fine." replied his friend.

"Hold it!" yelled Kero as he saw burnt grass.

"You know what this means..."

"They're close. Now, follow the footprints!"

Kero and Sabrina continued for less than a minute at full speed before seeing the edge of the forest. Two men and a woman had just climbed a rope ladder onto an airship that was already in the air.

"What the hell?" asked Sabrina.

"Isn't that Phoenix and Apollo?"

"Hang on, then what is Light doing there?"

The two thought for a moment, before yelling in unison:

"Gangsta Magez!"

They dashed along the trees, climbing to a higher layer of the canopy each time.

"If we keep this pace, we'll never get to the airship!" yelled Sabrina over the roaring motors. They were right next to them and couldn't hear a thing.

"What?" asked her friend.

"Never mind..." she replied, speeding up the pace. Once they reached the very top, they stopped for a moments breather and looked at the five meter gap between the zeppelin's balloon and the tree. Sabrina was the first to speak.

"Think we can make it?"

"I don't know. One way to find out."

Kero and Sabrina flew towards the balloon, but missed and instead crashed into the wooden chassis, managing to find a rope to hold onto. As the two soared up into the air with the blimp, Sabrina took out a firework dispenser and dropped it out of the blimp.

"What was that for and why do you have that on you anyway?"

"Signal. You seriously think we can do this alone? And I was going to a party later. Looks like that's off my list..."

"For now, two will have to do..."

"Good point, let's get a move on."

Kero and Sabrina managed to get on the main deck of the airship in a couple of minutes. By that time, the blimp was way above the clouds.

"Phew, that was hard. I wonder if anyone is here to greet us..." said Kero.

"Your prayers have, unfortunately, been answered..." muttered Sabrina. Twenty men, all wielding emerald-tipped wands, in black uniforms and a cap that shaded most of their head, stared at the two teenagers.

* * *

><p>"Help! Someone help me!"<p>

"I told you to give me some cookies and reindeer milk! But you didn't! So, I shall end your life and take your cookies and milk!" yelled a thief, punching an archer to a pulp.

"I can understand you needing a healing item, reindeer milk, but why cookies?" said the victim

"Why do you think cookies? They taste good and go down well with milk!" replied the thief, with a definitive blow penetrating the archer's chest. Blood dripped onto the snow and Cyrus Indigo took some reindeer milk and cookies.

"And if anyone else disobeys me, then they shall face the same fate.

He drank a gulp and ate a couple of cookies before heading to the tower looming in the distance.

* * *

><p>"Slash Blast!"<p>

Kero and Sabrina united their attacks and cut through five of twenty foes. The downed grunts got back up and looked at the young warriors.

"You pitiful kids. You think you can infiltrate our skybase and get away with it?" said a grunt. His fellow men cheered him. Kero then jumped forward and stabbed the henchman and tossed his corpse out of the airship.

"Your mistake!" said another guard as they all revealed concealed daggers and stabbed Kero at the same time. Sabrina looked at the boy, stabbed with nineteen blades at once. There was no way he could have survived, even with his armour on.

"Hey. I have a question." said Kero. His skin was slightly grey, yet not much blood was coming out. It was probably all inside the armour. "Ever heard of Iron Body?"

Sabrina let out a sigh of relief and the guards looked at him, with a puzzled look. Kero's reaction was a spin on his toes, tearing through at least ten grunts. The daggers were returned and Kero's Iron Body wore off. Sabrina quickly jumped and they made quick work of the gangsters, creating a shower of crimson all over the deck. At least ten more ran across the edge of the deck, where the cabin was.

"Ten men in a narrow space..." muttered Kero. Sabrina knew what he was thinking of, and did it first. She grabbed a barrel and rolled it like a bowling ball along the deck. They were all knocked down, except for two at the sides who jumped over.

"Seven-Ten split. Now that's just unlucky." said Kero.

* * *

><p>"Talk! You fiendish pirate. You've been hindering our business for a long time now!"<p>

"Never! My lips are sealed, Tony!"

"Ok then, prepare to meet your end, SourPunch!"

Tony had strapped him down on a hi-tech table. He grabbed several sword-like hinges from above and put them near the pirate's toes. He then hit a big green button and the hinges went into motion, moving up and down, getting slightly closer to the pirate every moment.

"How do you like this?" asked Tony as he brought another hinged object, this time it was a tazer. He was about to shock the pirate when his assistant burst in.

"Tony! We have a problem!"

"What, what!"

"It's those meddling kids! The warriors! They sure can put up one hell of a fight."

"They're still out there? Kudos for those two, but they won't last much longer. Send out a team of commanders. On the double!"

* * *

><p>A boy dropped to his knees. He was worn out. His blade was tinted in blood. His companion would drop any minute now. Yep, that was her. Sabrina was kicked by a mage and landed on the floor, skidding on her own blood for a moment, before coming to a standstill next to Kero. She mustered the last of her strength to get up and sat down next to Kero.<p>

"We're done for Kero..."

"What do you think they'll do?"

"If we're lucky, kill us. If not, torture."

"On the bright side, we could just jump off the zeppelin."

"And then what?"

"Pray for a happy landing."

"How can you be joking at a time like this?"

Before Kero could answer, three mages landed in front of them, holding their staffs forward. Frost, Ember and Light.

"Prepare for..."

"Shut up, you morons. We lost, I know. Stop rubbing it in our faces, bitch." said Sabrina.

"You got a loud mouth. Want me to cut it off for you or should Tony have the honours. After all, it is his airship you're wrecking."

Kero looked as if he was trembling. He managed to splutter out a few of words.

"If we surrender, then what are the terms?"

Ember looked at him, and smiled.

"You're a smart kid. Surrender and we will kill you nice and quick. Go down with a fight and you will suffer a slow, painful death."

"Erm...I surrender then. Sabrina, are you going to surrender?"

Sabrina looked at Kero as if he was out of his mind.

"What? We can't surrender now! We have to fight back!"

"Please, I don't want you to suffer because of me."

"I can't! It would be against all I strive for, my goals in life." she said, close to tears. Kero comforted her, by putting his hand on her back.

"Don't worry...we can face this together."

"No! It's against the warrior way! We can't."

"Yes we can...please don't harm yourself for no reason..."

"Why should I! I would rather die with dignity than sacrifice myself!"

"Don't...please, for me."

"Ok...but don't blame me if this goes out of hand..."

Kero bowed down to the Gangsta Magez. Sabrina did too. Kero then spoke up, confidence regained.

"Die."

Fireworks spewed out of the dispensers on their backs. It burnt them bad, but not nearly as bad as the gangsters who were straight in their trajectory. Many stopped, dropped and rolled, to no avail. The flames kept on spreading. Frost was encasing herself and the nearest teammates in ice, yet the flames slowly licked through the frozen barrier.

"Kero...was this really a good idea?"

"Yup. Why?"

"This whole ship is made of wood. And the blimp itself contains diesel, helium and hydrogen. Two out of three of these things are flammable. Highly flammable."

"Oh shit..."

* * *

><p>A white haired man, well built and tanned, walked along the icy cave alongside a young woman. This man had no idea who he was, but the woman had freed him from this frozen prison and he wouldn't have a hope in the world of getting out of the cave without her.<p>

"So...where am I?"

"Don't worry about that for the moment. You really need some rest. Come."

She led him out of the cave and into the snowy open. They walked along the snow, passing blue birds of some sort, bipedal, and currently mining for something. As they arrived at a small town, the woman opened a door and welcomed him to her home.

"Hot chocolate?"

"Ummm...ok?"

The girl passed him a mug of steaming brown liquid. He drank some. It tasted delicious. He lay down on the bed, finished his drink, and within minutes he was fast asleep.

* * *

><p><strong>A long chapter at last :D I told everything I wanted to tell without leaving the chapter short. Concrit appreciated.<strong>

**Will Kero's plan work out in the long run or will the Gangsta Magez recover from the firework bombardment?  
>Will SourPunch escape or will he be destroyed?<br>Cyrus Indigo is getting closer every minute? What tricks will he have up his sleeve this time?  
>And who is this white-haired amnesic man?<strong>

**New chapters every 2-10 days.**


	13. Battle on the Zeppelin! Part Two!

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own MapleStory or its characters (owned by Nexon) except my own OC's.**

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 13: Battle on the Zeppelin! Part Two!<strong>

_**Ka-BOOM!**_

"Holy crap! What was that noise?"

"Let's take a closer look!"

Cruz and Drake jumped up to the top of the canopy, only to see rainbow coloured lights pour down from the clouds.

"What the hell?"

"If we can get an airship then maybe we can find what's going on up there."

* * *

><p>Blades of steel cut through flesh, creating scarlet bursts that spread throughout the flames. Sabrina and Kero were back on their feet, taking the enemy by surprise. Many mages attempted to counter, but they were either destroyed by the warriors, burnt to death or hit by friendly fire. The entire front deck was ablaze, the embers licking through the fragile wood. Smoke reduced visibility to five meters, which was no use at all for the gangsters. Out of the sky fell a storm of ice, cast from some commanders. This froze the entire deck, extinguishing all the flames. As the smoke parted, the two warriors inspected the damage they had done.<p>

"Maybe we should have surrendered before ruining the deck..." joked Kero.

"Maybe we should get out of here before these guys annihilate us"

Kero and Sabrina quickly jumped to one side, avoiding icy balls being launched by some more grunts positioned higher up on the deck, obviously higher ranked than the previous lot. Kero had a hard time staying steady on the ice. Sabrina, on the other hand, had used her sword to act as a rudder, controlling her movement with maximum precision. She jumped up and impaled an ice mage. The rest attacked, with so much force that she fell off the upper deck and onto the ice below.

"Wheeeeeee!" screamed a voice.

Sabrina looked up in confusion to see Kero riding his shield like a snowboard on the ice, smashing away at the few opponents left on the lower deck. Everybody was missing him.

"How do we catch that little punk? He's just too bloody fast" said a grunt on the higher deck.

"I dunno, mate. Try burning him!"

"Yeah!"

As they prepared their fire arrows, the snowboarding warrior sped past, grabbing Sabrina on the way. The blazing bombardment devastated most of the floor, and the barrage continued after Kero and Sabrina, yet not quite as fast as the speeding warriors.

"Hell yeah!" screamed Kero as he felt the wind on his face.

"We're out of ice!" replied his companion in a shocked tone.

"Oh crap!" The shield then got jammed, causing both of them to fly overboard and they began their fiery descent down from the atmosphere.

* * *

><p>Forty adventurers were on the airship. Three pirates, ten warriors and twenty seven magicians. A boy on a telescope was staring into the clouds.<p>

"I see it! It's massive!"

"Where?" replied an older boy.

"There!"

As the clouds cleared, everyone saw the massive blimp in the sky. Much larger than their airship, a regular Ellinia-Orbis transporter ship. Out of the airship flew two suits of armour that landed on the transporter. Two dizzy people were inside. Madeyeball put the telescope down.

"Good to have you back."

* * *

><p>Tony walked along the deck as his men went in position, with a salute. He looked at the spot where the two warriors had fallen. He smiled. Brats...<p>

"I want you to head to Kerning City repair yards. On the double!"

"Yes sir!" replied a henchman and everyone else ran to their workstations. Tony looked at the clouds one last time before turning back. And turned back again. An airship rose out of the white canopy. Forty two adventurers all ready to fight. And at the wheel was Grendel himself. Tony only had one thing on his mind.

"Payback time!"

Tony ran back and yelled orders. All the crew went to the back of the deck where the intruders were. All the people on the airship charged. The sheer numbers knocked many mages down. Sabrina, Mad and Kero began chasing after Tony, with no intent of stopping. As they pursued the gangster away from the scene of the battle, they eventually entered a hi-tech room. Tony turned around and smiled.

"Well done in following me here. But I doubt your friend will be that happy!" he said, pointing at Sour, pinned down.

Tony pulled out what looked like a small wand with two purple and yellow lightning-bolt shaped daggers on each side. Mad burst into laughter.

"After all that, you get out a sorry excuse for a wooden stick with some hippie thunderbolts on it!"

Tony threw the weapon and it soared past Mad, leaving a small cut on his neck. It then returned and caught perfectly by the magician.

"Next time I won't spare you." he said, with an intimidating voice. He used the weapon to cast a powerful lightning bolt, electrifying all three warriors, sending them flying to the back of the room. Kero and Mad got up quickly, and as if synchronized, they charged with a combined Power Strike. Tony barely defended the strike with his blade; it wasn't designed for fighting at close range. Sabrina ran to the side, attempting to free SourPunch, yet she was incinerated by a fire blast from Tony, who was still using his magical weapon in close combat. She got up from the blast and prepared to attack. Kero and Mad had been forced to jump back, and were shocked at what Tony did next. He gripped one edge of the metal blade in one hand and launched the other one; it was attached to a chain that allowed it to work like a nunchuck. The new weapon wrapped itself around Kero, and Tony pulled on it, so that Kero rushed towards him. Tony then delivered an incredible punch to the gut. This was enough to knock the teen to his knees. He then whipped Sabrina with the weapon, leaving a gaping cut in her armour, wider than most swords cut.

"Whoa. That was scary!" she said, looking at her mighty armour, torn apart.

Tony trapped Mad's feet with the chain and tripped him up. He then whipped him higher into the air and retrieved the weapon before the boy had begun falling. He then cast a rapid spell to encase Mad in an ice cube. Tony then turned to Sabrina. He threw the weapon, but Sabrina cast it aside with her sword. He used the chain to trap the sword and pulled it out of Sabrina's hand.

"Game over."

* * *

><p>The invasion had almost ended after three minutes. Most of the Gangsta Magez had been startled and defeated in the initial charge. The more elite members took some time but in the end they all fell. Only a few who were avoiding the teams, now scouting the ship for any who escaped the onslaught, remained. Cruz and Mighty Titan were doing something else completely. They were running through the lower hallways to find their apprentices, their only clue was a trail of melted ice left by Kero and Sabrina's ice ride. As they reached the end of the trail, Titan began preparing for an attack. And unleashed it. Tony quickly avoided a series of punches and kicks, one of which shattered the mechanism that held his apprentice. SourPunch got up the moment he was freed and unleashed three kicks at Tony in a tornado-like fashion. The gangster rolled back, avoiding the blows and looked at the three attackers.<p>

"I do not have time for this, you pesky pirate!" yelled Tony as he mashed a button. The ships megaphones blared out "CODE 51! REPEAT, CODE 51!" one time. "Now the fight begins!"

Tony cast a spell that froze everyone on their feet, except for Mighty Titan, who was just too fast. Tony barely avoided a punch to the face, and countered with a fiery breath spell. Titan avoided it and sent a kick, which again was avoided. However, Tony was knocked to the back of the room despite avoiding contact.

"What the hell just happened?"

"Sonic boom. That kick there was faster than the speed of sound." said the martial arts master. "I'm surprised you could foresee the kick coming, but the shockwave still got you."

"Damn you..."

The magician managed to cast a slowdown spell on Titan, giving him more time. He barely avoided another sonic boom as he rolled to the side, stabbing with his weapon. Tony skidded away, preparing for the next attack. Using it nunchuck style would be useless, as the pirate would be too fast to be hit and it would decrease his magical ability. Instead, he used it to stop the pirate's knuckle guards. Tony then sent thousands of volts of electricity down them, causing Titan to fall down. Tony then charged up his Mana, causing an eerie white glow around him.

"This airship will self destruct any minute now! I'm going to end your life nice and slow before you fall through the stratosphere!"

"Are we really that high up...? And as for the life ending part, no thanks!"

Titan unleashed a kick barrage by spinning on his head, missing by centimetres. He stopped, only to see Tony with his eyes closed, standing in perfect balance.

"Are you mocking me?" he asked over the inaudible mumbling of Tony.

"Prepare to die! Genesis Blast!" yelled the gangster. A white beam of light burst through the roof, blasting Titan who was inside the beam. Another ten rained down from above, one for each person downstairs and seven for a few unlucky people who were nearby upstairs. These beams had come from above the blimp, so the balloon had popped and was on fire. The ship began to fall, as its diesel motors had been destroyed in the attack. Inside, Titan was unconscious. So was everyone else, except for Tony.

"Amateurs..." he said before walking out of the room towards the escape pods. From the floor, a warrior opened his eyes, surrounded by a purple liquid.

* * *

><p>"Everybody, quick!" yelled the magician master.<p>

"Run! Is everybody in yet?" asked Drake.

"Thirty four, thirty five, thirty six...! Six people are missing!"

"Darn it! I think Titan is missing!"

"And someone else...!"

Explosions rocked the ship as the small transporter began separating from the exploding blimp. From the smoke, two figures appeared, carrying two people each. They both jumped down from the blimp as it exploded in a ball of fire. Madeyeball and Cruz landed on the ship and rolled to a halt at the end, letting the other four unconscious fighters slip onto the floor. As they descended into the clouds, a flaming piece of debris hit the ship.

"Damnit!"

* * *

><p>A warrior walked down the cliffs of Perion into the Burnt Lands. He observed the charred and scorched soil. He then saw all the fire boars run away. He was glad he radiated fear. Then came the harsh realization. A giant flame was descending from the sky. It exploded about fifty metres away from him, burning his skin to a crisp. A minute after the crash, the fire and smoke cleared and the now-roasted warrior looked at what had happened before fainting<p>

* * *

><p>A man walked through the celestial city's roads. There were no cars in this city. He liked the beauty of the city. Maybe it could become his base of operations when he returned. He then saw the sign.<p>

**ORBIS AIRPORT**

He smiled and jumped up to the higher pathways and entered the gate. He passed the receptionist without a care in the world. He then arrived at the correct terminal: Ellinia-Orbis.

"Excuse me. Name and passport please." said the flight assistant. The man just stabbed her.

"Name: Cyrus. Passport: What the hell is that?"

* * *

><p><strong>Tony and Co have escaped, but at the cost of their airship! Will they come back for revenge?<br>Where will the flaming transporter land? Or will it crash-land?  
>Cyrus Indigo is just ten minutes away from Victoria Island. What does he want to do on the island? And what chaos will he bring with him?<strong>

**New chapters every 2-14 days.**


	14. Home sweet Home!

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own MapleStory or its characters (owned by Nexon) except my own OC's.**

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 14: Home sweet home!<strong>

A warrior woke up for the second time and looked in the sky. He saw the smoke trail the blimp had left. The ruined machine had seen way better days. Half of it was missing, the other half was on fire. The entire thing had been spread out over 60 metres.

"What a day..." muttered the young adventurer as a second smaller fireball flew from the sky. "Ok, this is getting odd." The second fireball was going to miss him. He could see. It crashed onto a large rocky outcrop, hurling the thing towards him.

"This is gonna hurt..." he said as he rolled out of the way, only to be smashed on the head by a piece of wood. He got up and looked at what seemed like an airship pick up altitude. It was going to land! The main Perion plateau had a massive empty space, perfect for landing. He felt calmed that the airship would actually land.

* * *

><p>The flames were so thick, you could hardly see 20 metres away. Which is a lot if you were going 20 metres a second, unless you had a telescope. The scorching heat made the most simplistic task a chore.<p>

"Holy shit! Pull up, PULL UP!"

"That's what I'm trying to do!"

"Grendel! Can't you see we're all going to die?"

"Get off that telescope and help me out here!"

A third voice butted in. "Watch out! Overhang!"

"Wait...what?"

"OH MY GOD! PULL UP, PULL UP!"

"Calm down, Mad!" yelled Grendel as he managed to do a loop, forcing everyone hold onto the railings or other objects for dear life. Crates and other things flew around inside and out. As Grendel completed the loop, he soared upwards before levelling out the plane. They were going to be alright. He raised his hand and made an estimation of the wind speed. 147 miles per hour. Pretty high, but not too much.

Of course, Grendel wasn't the best of mathematicians even on a good day. Grendel had forgotten to take into account that they were rotating on the very tip of the airship. Everybody knows that the front will always spin slower than the back, because they both rotate the same angle for the same amount of time, but the back must spin faster to keep up with the front. The person furthest at the back was being whipped by winds of 733 mph. At the very rear of the airship, it was thirty five miles per hour faster. 733+35=768.

_**Sonic BOOOOM!**_

The entire ship shook as it hit the speed of sound and a powerful blast powered through the air. Several people fell off. The ship began rotating and falling at insane speeds. Another sonic boom erupted out of nowhere and the back of the ship blew off. The front was pushed forward by the wind and landed on the ground, leaving a fiery dust trail behind it. As the ruined ship finally halted, the ten people still on board sighed in relief.

* * *

><p>"Muahahaha! Haha! I'm so evil! This plan cannot fail! But I seriously need a new body... this one is beginning to fail me. When I get there, I must find somewhere to cast the spell. I cannot complete the plan without him, as much as I hate that brat."<p>

"Shut up already! You've been monologuing for the past five minutes." yelled an adventurer. "We're on the lookout for Crimson Balrogs here!"

"Make me. It feels good to be free once and for all!"

"You're some nutcase. Stop distracting us, or a Crimson Balrog could kill us all!"

"What do they look like? This?" asked Cyrus as he preformed some fast hand seals and stomped his fists on the floor, creating a mark in the shape of a pentagonal star inscribed in a circle, both full of writing in an ancient language. A creature appeared out of the mark. It was a flying beast that looked something like a crossover between the Minotaur and a giant bat.

"Wha...How...!"

"Attack, my minion!" yelled Cyrus Indigo as he felt a stabbing pain all over him. He forgot. His substitute body couldn't take such a powerful spell. The dark magic would devour his body and leave his soul exposed. Unless he was in a zone powerful with dark magic, then an evil soul like his would disintegrate after a while. He watched, eating some of the cookies he got earlier, as the adventurers slowly beat his summoned minion until it evaporated into a toxic cloud. By then, Ellinia's airport, Sixtopia, was less than 500 metres away. Cyrus Indigo decided to do a massive leap of faith. He grabbed the edge with a chain and quickly pulled himself up. He ran into the treetop city of Ellinia. He looked at the massive branch he was standing on. It joined up to a huge tree that connected to another tree. The whole city was like a massive interconnected treehouse. He then saw a poster. It had a picture of a young warrior and a young magician facing each other. He ripped it off and read it out loud.

"Second Job Graduation Tournament: 19th May."

He looked around and began reading the rest. This was good news. In a month, the best young fresh fighters would duke it out in the Perion Coliseum. One month to find a new body. One month to train his ultimate weapon for the fight.

* * *

><p>Sabrina ran along the dusty streets of Perion. She looked at the crash site again. She had been lucky. She fell out of the ship at a pretty low height and hadn't been squashed by anything. She looked away and dashed back into the potion shop. She saw a man running in as well. She entered and gave her mother a bag full of red herbs.<p>

"Delia! The hospital is running out of potions! Quick! We need another batch!" he said.

Her mum gave the man several flasks of white potions and began making another batch with the herbs Sabrina had given her. Sabrina went back outside, only to run into Kero.

"What do you want?" she said. "Can't you see I'm busy?"

Kero ignored this remark. "I'm qualified! And you are too! So is Mad!"

"Qualified...for what?" she asked, tilting her head.

"Second job graduation tournament! Graduations used to be individual but now...!"

"Meh..."

"Meh? Every single first job adventurer on Victoria Island will want to be participating in this tournament! 512 people are qualified!"

"Big deal."

"Three preliminary rounds and nine main rounds! That's twelve..."

Sabrina pushed Kero out of the way and went for a stroll.

* * *

><p>"Hey, if ya say so Cruz. Wouldn't mind an extra pupil."<p>

"It's just for the month of training. And I need him to learn at least one Macro skill."

"Got it. Anything exactly in mind?"

"The tornado..."

"So...you want him to learn your personal move."

"Precisely."

"Ok...but I and my apprentice are heading to Rien to train. Let's hope he won't mind the cold."

* * *

><p>"Yes, that's it! Harder!"<p>

"I'm pushing as hard as I can!"

"Come on! You can do better!"

"Urgh...can't push any harder.

Suddenly, a white explosion occurred. A boulder fell down the cliff. The white haired man let out a sigh. "Finally...can I have a break now?"

"Fine...but you will never get back in shape if you keep on like this."

* * *

><p>Mighty Titan jumped down a ledge and looked over the town. Perion had some great views from above. SourPunch had gone to the thermal baths about an hour ago. They were like a massive Jacuzzi. After such an adventure, maybe he should have a day off. He took a leap and landed in the middle of the dusty street, if you could call it that. It was just a smooth mountain path that was easy to walk through. An old woman, about seventy, walked up the hill.<p>

"Excuse me ma'am. Could you tell me where the thermal baths are?"

"Erm...I'm pretty certain the men's one is broken. The tubing broke because of some airship crash." she said in a frail voice.

"Hmmm..."

"But if you want to come back later, they're right by the Burnt Land's entrance."

"I still don't get it. My student couldn't have gotten lost. And he can get that far in five minutes. What's taking him so..._that pervert_!" he yelled, charging down the mountain. "If I catch you peeking in there, you're as good as dead SourPunch!"

* * *

><p>SourPunch sat in front of the massive wooden walls. He looked through a small hole, with a mischievous grin on his face. Kero sat in front of the massive rock. His eyes were shut, with a bored expression. SourPunch's grin widened. Kero blew the rock to smithereens with his fists. A stone hail landed in the entire proximity, even behind the wall. This caused an uproar.<p>

"Oh, thanks for ruining my fun..."

"Get a girlfriend or something. You can't peek at thermal baths all day."

"_SOURPUNCH!_"

Kero grinned. SourPunch got his cute and innocent face ready. Mighty Titan landed in front of the two boys.

"SourPunch! What were you doing?"

"Nothing."

"Tell me the truth."

"Research for a book."

"The truth."

"Fine...I was peeking. Happy?"

"No, I'm angry. But I do have some good news." said Titan, showing SourPunch a tournament leaflet. We're off to train in Rien. We leave tomorrow morning."

"Leaving already?" asked Kero.

"Oh, Kero. Cruz told me to take you along."

Kero and Sour glanced at each other.

"Wait..."

"I'm stuck..."

"WITH HIM!"

* * *

><p>Cyrus Indigo sat inside the tree dungeon. He began an incredibly rapid series of hand signs. The tree began to wither. Cyrus had to sap the life force of anything nearby to gather enough energy to perform the spell and not have his body disintegrate. He then stomped both his hands on the floor. A shadow came out of a star-shaped curse mark. It looked humanoid. It began morphing into a more human figure and it began being covered with the shadow of armour and a mace. The shadow held his weapon in hand as muscular tissue began erupting from the shadow. It left a pool of black and red on the floor as the skin surfaced from underneath. Orange liquid bubbled all over the body as it gained the final details, wavy brown hair, purple eyes and a nose. The shadow armour and mace turned into steel and the new boy looked at Cyrus in the eyes. He then saw the tournament paper in the man's hand. He saw it, knowing what would happen.<p>

"Kero Mizrak. I'm coming for you!"

* * *

><p><strong>Cyrus Indigo is here! What is his plan?<br>And who is this new minion?  
>How will Kero and SourPunch deal with each other for a whole month?<strong>

**New chapters every 2-14 days.**


	15. Vs Aran!

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own MapleStory or its characters (owned by Nexon) except my own OC's.**

**CHAPTER 15: VS Aran!**

* * *

><p>Aran looked around the snowy town again. He had been gone long enough. Lilin had suggested he headed to mainland soon. He flipped his polearm and brushed his hand through his white hair. He wore a basic training top and beige trousers, both covered with fur on the ends. Aran jumped off the cliff and dashed towards the town, slashing through anything in his way. He approached the first house with a grin on his face and jumped right over it by getting a small air boost from a sign post. He skidded across the entire main street. As he came to a halt he saw something on the mountain side.<p>

"Yahoo!" someone yelled as he sped down the hill on what looked like a snowboard.

"Wait up!" yelled someone else, as he dashed after him.

The first one did an airborne spin and continued on the descent. The second one overtook him by taking in his slipstream. As they barged for first place, the second one pushed the first one away and managed to get on a large ramp. As he hit the ground some of his 'snowboard' broke off, causing a laugh from his companion. As they approached the river, the first one grabbed the edge of his board, did a small hop and he skimmed right off the surface. He slowed down as he landed on the snow again. The second one clipped his board on a piece of ice, causing it to flip over and he landed in the river. As he crawled out chocking, he cursed under his breath.

"Prick..."

The not-so-wet-one helped his friend out, only to find themselves facing the point of Aran's polearm.

"Who are you and what do you want?" he asked.

"Que? No te entiendo." said the dry one.

"And you?" he asked, pointing at the wet one.

"Je suis très désolée, je ne te entendu pas.

"Hmmmm. How to solve this. I know! I...Aran. Me...guardian. You no can be here. Understand?"

With that, the two boys burst into laughter.

"I didn't know you spoke Spanish!"

"Yeah! Good one Sour!"

Aran sent a powerful blow to the ground, trying to intimidate the duo. The boy responded by grabbing his shield, which he had used as a snowboard, and then his sword.

"So who are you?" asked Aran.

"I am Kero Mizrak and this is SourPunch. Now please get out of the damn way!"

"You need to learn some manners."

"I'm waiting..."

Aran attacked Kero, who blocked with his shield and delivered a powerful kick to Aran's stomach, causing him to skid a long way back. The noise had captured the attention of several townspeople...towns_penguins_.

The two ran towards each other and attacked, cancelling both out. Aran smiled before being hit with a _straight_, a punch infused with Mana, by SourPunch. Aran prepared to attack again before being bombarded with punches. He managed to block most of them, yet one knocked him onto the floor. Aran slashed at Sour and proceeded to swing his polearm onto his head. SourPunch receded a little. Kero Mizrak used his friend's shoulders to jump into the air and delivered a Power Strike onto Aran's polearm. The hard wood barely resisted the mighty blow. Aran aimed for the boy's hip, yet failed to damage him. Kero smacked the polearm out, accidentally blowing his sword away as well. Aran and Kero began fist fighting. Kero did an uppercut which was avoided and countered with a roundhouse kick. They glared at each other, before Aran sent a flying kick into Kero's face, knocking him down. SourPunch appeared from behind and grabbed Aran. He threw the man up into the air and jumped after him. He concentrated a blue aura around his fists. He clenched them together. He prepared to attack

"Titanic..._HAMMER!_" he yelled as he smashed his opponent down at supersonic speeds. Aran crashed into the snow with SourPunch close behind. Kero got up and looked at his friend's arrogant smirk.

"Easy as cake." said Sour, treading on Aran's body.

"Not so fast!" replied Aran, who had grabbed his foot. By now, the entire town was watching the fight. Except for one person. Aran had chained nine hits on the pirate before being blocked, and then landing a tenth. A small burst of energy erupted and Aran's attacks suddenly became stronger and faster. He smiled. This "combo ability" he had been shown by Lilin had actually worked. Aran managed to pummel SourPunch, landing over eighty five punches and kicks, all more powerful than the last. As almost a minute past, more and more attacks hit...eighty six...eighty seven...eighty eight hits per minute! This final attack blew the pirate over twenty metres away. He rolled along the snow until coming to a standstill, then getting up. The boy was out of breath but still eager to fight and still had that arrogant smirk. He turned around, quickly avoiding Kero's sword attack. Aran dived for his polearm and blocked Kero's barrage. Aran jumped over him but was elbowed by Kero. He then defended against the continuous blows and then landed a hit straight in the boy's face. The attack hardly left a wound.

"Iron body...works wonders." said Kero before delivering a mighty Power Strike enhanced stab into Aran's chest. Aran resisted the urge to scream in pain as he collapsed to his knees.

In the distance, an entirely orange humanoid with a flaming aura got his attention caught by the battle. He wore a dark orange combat suit and pale orange jeans. He also had a headband, which too was orange. His skin was a very light orange and his hair was slightly darker.

"Tsk...and I used to call him master. He's weaker than when I first met him. Maybe I should lend a hand."

Back at the battlefield, Aran was still immobile. SourPunch stood where he landed, waiting for Kero to make a move. Aran was then struck by a beam that seemed to come from above and passed out. He woke up with an amber tint in his eyes. He smiled.

"Instant Power! Combo Fenrir!" he screamed as he began to glow purple and smashed his polearm into the earth. Kero was surprised by this and took several steps back. Several 'Mana Wolves' erupted from the earth just in front of Kero and into the air. He was knocked backwards by the force and looked up in the sky. The wolves looked evil and reminded him of Daniel Indigo with their purple eyes and menacing look. They rained back down on the boy, causing a massive amount of purple explosions. They left a massive crater and Kero Mizrak unconscious. Aran lost his orange eyes, and a lot of his stamina. The humanoid from earlier appeared on the top of a signpost, unnoticed by anyone. SourPunch ran up to his friend and then glared at Aran, before noticing the orange humanoid.

"Who are you and what did you do to my friend?" asked Sour.

"Who, me?" he replied. "I am Maha, spirit of the polearm of the great Warrior hero. And you? A squirmy little brat!"

"Why you little!"

"Do not get angry, incompetent one."

By this point, SourPunch was fuming. He jumped up towards Maha, who simply hopped away and fired a barrage of energy bombs at him. SourPunch was thrashed by these, yet finally managed to grab one and launch it back. Maha landed on the floor and smiled.

"Not bad, rookie. Not bad at all."

Maha disappeared for a moment, then reappearing behind SourPunch and kicked him, launching him quite a long distance.

"I hope that put you in your place, oh incompetent one."

SourPunch easily got up, yet knew he was beat. Maha had hardly been scratched. His new coat and his skin had been scorched. Not to mention, Maha had indirectly blown up Kero with one attack. Out of nowhere a flash hit Maha and then sent a volley of punches at the spirit. It too was orange, yet this one lacked the human details of Maha. It looked like a uniform armour suit with white eyes and rising 'hair' that looked more like spikes. The newcomer punched the ground, causing cracked rocks emerging from in front of him, near melting point. It looked as if the earth had been forced up from below by white-hot magma. Maha glared at him, before being hit by what looked like a 'Kamehameha', a long orange energy beam. Maha rose from the snow and stared at the being. They entered a fistfight, with Maha losing by a little. They were both worn out, but Maha was cut and bruised, whilst the newcomer was unwounded. They charged towards each other for one final blow until the current leader transformed from a lean mean orange fighting machine to his more familiar form: Mighty Titan. Maha blew him away with one punch.

"Mighty!" yelled SourPunch as he went to the side of his mentor.

"Can you explain what is going on here...Maha?" said the man, with an intimidating voice.

"These incompetent minors started a ruckus, I am simply putting them in their place. You seem to be overprotective of this kid. Any reason?"

Mighty Titan stared at the orange figure. "That's no reason for you to beat up my students. Now I hope we can get on good terms in the future, but for now farewell."

SourPunch ran over to pick up the unconscious warrior and the three of them walked away into the depths of the snowy tundra.

"Pfft, weaklings." said Aran as he got up from the snow

"Don't be so sure Aran." replied Lilin. "Those three seem to have a lot of fight in them. You would have lost if it weren't for Maha."

"And Aran, you seem weak. Pitifully weak. I'm not returning to your side again, not until you can best me in battle."

"Some day I will, Maha. I will defeat you and I will regain my lost strength. I may not know who I was, but I know who I am."

"What, a brute who can't take down two kids? Ha!" taunted Maha.

"Shut up Maha."

* * *

><p>Madeyeball dodged a ferocious punch and responded with an equally powerful kick. Sabrina grabbed his foot and tossed him behind. The boy quickly rolled between Sabrina's feet and did a backflip kick from behind. As Sabrina rose and began falling, she positioned her elbow so that she smashed the boy's head. They stared at each other, before sending out a volley of punches and kicks. As they began to pant, their swords and Jake's shield dropped down. Cruz peered over the ledge and gave them a thumbs up to continue They both grinned.<p>

"That's more like it. Ready Mad?"

"Whenever you are, Sab."

The two charged towards each other and another round of intense training began.

* * *

><p>A boy sent out a punch. Then a kick, followed by a head smash. Finally, he charged up his fist with Mana, the same way he would do a Power Strike and blew up the large rock.<p>

"How did I do, Master?"

"Not bad. Not bad at all. You need to power up."

"Understood." he replied as an orange aura consumed him. His eyes turned purple. His arms and legs grew bulkier. So did his hands and fingers. Then, out of the blue, an arm emerged from his aura. It was massive and looked like it was made of stone, but only in shape. It was in fact made out of the same boiling aura that covered his entire body. He used the hand to grab a rock the same size as before and jumped into the air. Whilst airborne he began to spin as his extra arm extended and smashed the rock to pieces on the floor.

"Good work Daniel. Now, all you need is the motivation to reach the next level. One that I think will surge in the tournament. Hang on, forgot something. Muahahaha!"

* * *

><p><strong>Medium length, medium excitement. I'm beginning to feel like this story sucks and no reviews since chapter 9(Insert depressed here).<strong>


	16. Filler: Training Time!

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own MapleStory or its characters (owned by Nexon) except my own OC's.**

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 16 [Filler]: Training time!<strong>

"Take that!" Kero yelled as he sent a swipe with his blade.

"Titanic Hammer!" replied Sour as he smashed the snow, causing water and rock to fly at Kero. The latter shielded himself, only to be kicked sky-high. Kero landed in the snow with a thump. He then got out and balanced his sword on two fingers.

"You gonna do it?" asked SourPunch.

"Yup. I've been practising every night since we fought with Aran."

"So? We've been here two weeks and we only have two more."

"Whirlwind Blow!" yelled Kero as he began to channel Mana into his fingers. He then expelled and twisted the Mana so it made the sword spin. It began to make a whooshing noise as it rotated faster and faster.

"You know, your master can achieve thrice that in a third of the time. Nine times more effective."

"Quiet!" said Kero as he began to run. The blade began to wobble on his fingers. "Better brace yourself, Sour!"

SourPunch's expression became a bit more of worry, but he still replied in arrogance.

"Pffft."

Kero's sword picked up all the snow in his way, creating a blizzard around his sword, which in turn became even more unstable. Just as he jumped up in the air to strike, he lost control of his Mana flow. The sword fell down, hitting Sour on the head with the flat edge. Then came the snow. Kero landed on his face a couple of meters ahead. He groaned, got up and turned around.

"Oh my gosh! It's a snowman!" he yelled.

"Prick..."

* * *

><p>Sabrina ran over the rocky terrain, with her sword dragging on the floor, creating sparks. Mana engulfed these sparks and she meshed them with her sword. A translucent orange energy surrounded it. She smashed the sword into the rock, leaving a scorch mark on it, and little else. Madeyeball laughed. Cruz facepalmed.<p>

"Sabrina...that honestly sucked." said Cruz. He then jumped into the air and began to spin in a ball. His sword slashed against the rocky terrain he was standing on multiple times per second. He then propelled himself forward and smashed the flaming blade onto the ground. As the ground cracked, and some melted, burning wind suddenly rushed through everyone's face, scorching them. Sabrina shook her head, making her hair flow in the air. Jake laughed again.

"Sabby, look at your hair."

"OHMYGODMYHAIRSONFIRE!"

* * *

><p>"Give...me...the messo!"<p>

"No! Arrow rain!"

The archer sent a storm of arrows in the sky. His opponent used his massive third hand to block the incoming hail. The boy had a maniacal grin. He sent his third arm to grab a stone golem and smash it on the archer. The golem was reduced to rubble and the archer was on the floor. Daniel Indigo then noticed something. The archer's brain was spilling out.

"No thanks..." he muttered, flicking the corpse away towards Henesys.

"Well done, my son. The tournament is arriving soon, and you are almost ready." said Cyrus. "Remember, you can bash Kero around as much as you want, or anyone else for that matter, but keep your brother alive!"

* * *

><p>An old woman walked down the market. Her name was Fiona Lucas. She turned around to a booth and bought some tomatoes and put them in her grocery bag. She then turned ahead and continued walking. Out of nowhere, something landed there. A guy in his twenties, holding a bow. With his insides outside.<p>

"Oh...my...god. Run for the hills!"

* * *

><p><strong>Just another filler for what's coming up at the tournament, showing off everyones new skills. And Daniel is murdering level 70 archers...but just who is his brother?<strong>


	17. The Tournament Begins

**Notice: Time to get serious with the character development. These guys seem so plain.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own MapleStory or its characters (owned by Nexon) except my own OC's.**

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 17: The Tournament Begins!<strong>

"Come on Mad! We're going to be late for the tournament. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles can't be that good."

"How many times during training have I asked you to stop calling me that? It's Jake."

"Sorry. Just seems strange that you don't like your nickname you've had for so long."

"No worries." he said, shutting off the TV with the remote, looking at Sabrina. "Let's find Kero and get to the arena."

Five minutes later, the trio stood in front of the colossal arena. They each had new looks. Kero wore some silver 'Master Sergeant' armour, complete with kilt and a golden crown-like symbol on the chestplate. He had a much better sword, the Gladius. It was a thick silver blade that was light yet hard to use because of its awkwardness. He hadn't replaced or upgraded his shield, just repaired it. The only thing new was a more aerodynamic structure. He had the feeling that he would have to use its snowboard-like capacities again some time. Mad...Jake had a black 'Master Sergeant' with a red symbol. He had a Gladius like Kero and his shield had been slightly reinforced with more steel. Sabrina had an amethyst 'Master Sergeant', complete with a golden symbol and a two-handed sword, the Scimitar. It had a small, adorned hilt made of red wood and gold. The rest of the blade was long, wide and curved, widest at the middle of the curve. They all looked up at the stairway leading up to the huge coliseum. Unexpected challenges lied in wait. They looked at each other. The three of them high fived.

"Let's do this!"

* * *

><p>Several people were in the locker room. One was a warrior training with dumbbells. Another was a thief polishing his dagger. Another was an archer counting his arrows. And many more. Another one came out of the shower with a towel round his neck. Two warriors walked into the room, got a key and put their unnecessary armour in the locker. The atmosphere was tense but calming to know you weren't the only one. Kero Mizrak looked at his watch. They had 20 minutes before the opening announcements were made.<p>

"I need a shower..." he muttered walking towards the shower, but the dumbbell warrior stopped him.

"Well if it isn't little Mizzie? You sure got guts coming here."

"Well if it isn't retarded Victor. You sure got...or don't got brains coming here."

Victor's eyes narrowed, but he managed to calm himself down. "What have you been doing in the past month anyways? I've been training to no end! You've probably been picking your nose."

A third voice emerged. "Can it, this guy's been training with _me_!"

Everybody turned to SourPunch who was at the doorway.

"Of course, he is no way as good as me. So far it's Kero 35, me 267."

"Shut up snowman!" replied Kero.

"Oh god, not the snowman episode again."

"It's hot here. Don't melt, Frosty."

Sour grumbled and went to a locker. Kero walked towards the shower, but was stopped again by Victor.

"Listen Mizzie, it ain't over till the fat lady sings."

"Please don't involve your mother in this."

Victor's face looked like it had exploded. Everyone else in the room laughed. He snarled and walked away. They then heard a voice coming from outside. Jake laughed and made a smug remark.

"Oh goodie, Kero. It's already over. The pre-tournament opera started. The fat lady sung. Vic, go outside and say hi to mama."

"Faggot."

"Oh do shut up you bumbling moron-like alien."

Victor walked out of the room, not before smashing the wall tiles with his dumbbell.

After a short but refreshing shower, Kero walked out and got his clothes back on. His clothing was very plain. A pastel yellow T-shirt and basic blue jeans. Jake had a black blazer and shorts, exposing his muscular chest and legs. The two walked out into the hall accompanied with SourPunch in his regular clothing.

"Who's up for a snack?" asked Sour.

"Me!" both warriors yelled.

The hall was made of the brown rock that formed the mountainside. The building walls were smooth, as if they had been carved straight out of a mountain. The trio walked up some large stone stairs before Jake was attacked...or hugged. Hard to tell the difference. By a very annoying girl: Sarah, who had pushed him off that ledge at Ellinia.

"Stop...hugging...me."

"Not a chance!"

Three more girls arrived. Natasha, Paula and Sabrina.

"What is this, the lesbian club?" asked Sour.

"Shut your wordhole, Sour." said Sabrina. "And Sarah, quit hugging. You look retarded."

Kero then changed the subject. "Is anyone hungry? We have fifteen minutes."

The six of them walked up the stairs into a modern cafeteria. Kero then walked up to the counter.

"Hi. I would like...erm. Hmmm. Something light."

"Burger and chips?" asked the chef.

"Chips would be nice, but not in the mood for a burger..."

"I am." said Jake.

"Ok then, burger and chips."

The two sat down at a table with Sabrina, SourPunch, Natasha and Paula. Kero saw an empty salad bowl in the middle and a half-finished plate of Unagi. The waiter came with Kero and Jake's meal. Kero reached for a chip. Paula then took one and popped in her mouth.

"Don't mind if I do." she said, with her mouth full. Kero simply frowned.

"What?" she asked, flipping her crimson hair.

"You're annoying." he replied, taking three chips and eating them.

"You eat like a pig."

"Tell that to Jake or Morton."

Jake was not happy at this comment.

"What?" he asked as he finished his burger.

Kero facepalmed. Natasha giggled. Sabrina hid her face in her hands. Sour facedesked.

Five minutes of chip-eating (Kero), for hiding in embarrassment (Jake/Mad) and talking (Everyone else) later, they all decided to get ready for the opening call. The three girls went towards the girls' lockers, Kero and Mad went to the boys' lockers and SourPunch went to spy on the girls' lockers.

* * *

><p>One thousand and twenty eight people were in the massive room. It was a hi-tech room, covered in a shiny black metal with neon green lights on the walls. There, an assortment of warriors, magicians, archers, thieves and pirates stood. Five more people were at the front. They were the five job instructors. Dances with Balrog walked out to a podium.<p>

"Silence!"

Everyone shut up.

"Welcome everyone to the first semestral second job graduation tournament! I am already proud of all of all one thousand and twenty eight of you. The graduation exam will begin after the eliminatory rounds."

A lot of 'What?' and 'Awww' were heard.

"These rounds will take place in the 32 arenas you are standing on. There will be three of these battles. The referees will take notes of everything and then score you, mainly based on your win/loss/draw ratio. Then you will all be matched up for the actual tournament. Each minor battle here has a time limit of 2 minutes. Everybody here has been given a number upon entering this room. Every number will be shown on this screen" he said, pointing to the projector screen behind him. "The arenas are also numbered. The number next to your number indicates the arena. If it is green, it is ready for your battle. If it is red, then you must wait. Stay near your arena to minimize wasted time. Arenas may be subject to change so be aware. This may take anywhere between one and two hours."

He briefly changed the projector to show the arena positioning, and then the arenas rose off the floor, indicated by neon green lights. He changed the screen back and now one sixteenth of the arena numbers were in green.

"Let the battles begin!"

Kero was lucky. His light was green off the bat. He climbed up onto his five times ten metre arena and saw an archer at the other end. He had glasses that prevented you from seeing his eyes, grey and black 'hunter' armour, pale skin and black hair that went down the sides of his face.

"No time for formalities, warrior. Let us duel!"

"Agreed."

Kero and the archer jumped into the air. Kero sent a fast swipe of his blade, which the archer just dodged. He sent a volley of arrows towards Kero, who blocked with his shield. Kero landed on top of his shield which slided on the floor. The metal was slippery.

"Looks like its surfing time already." he said. The archer fired a double shot, which was blocked by an aerial done with Kero's shield. Kero crashed into the archer and held his sword aimed at the archer's neck. The referee blew a whistle and the two got off the arena. Kero looked at the screen. He saw three more numbers next to his arena number, now in red. They changed from 0-0-0 to 1-0-0.

"One win, zero loses and zero draws. Good start."

He then saw someone. Someone he hadn't seen in a long time. He had brown armour that gave off an ancient and mystic vibe with matching black iron trousers. He had pale skin and ruffled purple hair. His eyes were a deep blue, menacing as well. The person looked back at him. And he scowled, but you could see a hint of joy on his face. Kero looked back at the leaderboard. His arena had been changed. Darn. He walked towards the next arena, hoping his battle would come soon.

* * *

><p>The magician fired at the pirate, who responded with two bursts from his pistol. The magician recoiled and prepared to launch a barrage of spells. However, one powerful kick ended the battle. The pirate looked at the next arena. His twin had also managed a KO. They blew the smoke off their guns and grinned.<p>

"Bonanza Bros for the win!"

* * *

><p>A thief and an archer circled each other. The thief launched 'Shuriken', more commonly known as ninja stars as the archer fired mighty shots with his crossbow. Every shot missed by an inch. They then rushed towards the centre and the thief disappeared. The archer, stunned, looked around, only to be chocked from behind. The thief revealed himself and smiled.<p>

"Victory."

The referee blew his whistle and the two got off the arena.

* * *

><p>Kero was impatient. He had changed arenas three times and not a single battle. He was then surprised as his number changed from 5 to 4 and it was now green. He walked to the next arena, climbed on and saw his opponent. It was the same person from earlier.<p>

"Kero Mizrak...we meet again."

"Daniel Indigo...why am I not surprised?"

"Last time you got the better of me. You made shame of my family name and honour. This time, it will be the last time you see the light of day. This time, I shall prevail!"

"I'll send you away in tears like last time Prepare to lose!"

"One shall stand, one shall fall."

* * *

><p><strong>Exclamation mark! Daniel Indigo is back, stronger than ever. Two old rivals are to duke it out in the arena. Jake, Sabrina and Sour have some tough battles ahead. But what chaos will arrive with Cyrus watching from the backgrounds. Or is he? Who knows, but there is one thing certain: One shall stand, one shall fall.<strong>

**On a side note, I think I got back some lost inspiration. The story seemed to go downhill because I wasn't interested. Now it's action time with the tournament.**


	18. The Extra Mile

**Notice: Time to get serious with the character development. These guys seem so plain.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own MapleStory or its characters (owned by Nexon) except my own OC's.**

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 18: The extra mile<strong>

"One shall stand, one shall fall."

"Seriously? Is that the best you can come up with?"

"Shut up and draw your blade!"

Kero drew out his Gladius and Daniel took out a spiked mace. The two looked at each other. The fire in their eyes was raging.

"Get a move on!" yelled the referee. This was enough to launch the two into combat. Daniel spun around, knocking Kero to the rear of the arena, who proceeded to rapidly get up and send a Power Strike at Daniel. The blade cut into his armour, but his skin was unscratched. Kero took a step backwards to give himself some more room. Daniel then moulded an orange field of Mana and launched it at Kero, who was surprised by the attack and fell to the floor. Daniel jumped as high as he could and began to spin in midair, using his mace as an extension. He spun so fast he looked like a wheel. He then charged at Kero, still rolling.

"Shields up!" yelled Kero as he defended himself and Daniel flew off as if it was a ramp. He tried to turn over but slipped and hit the ground hard. He got up and swiped Kero's feet, causing him to fall. He then charged a Power Strike.

"Get a load of this, you dumb little novice!" he said whilst trying to smash his adversary as hard as he could, only missing because of Kero's rolling.

"Do a barrel roll!" Kero yelled, rolling over and propelling himself up with his weapon. He then opened his legs and spun faster, kicking Daniel in the face on repeat. After a couple of seconds he lost speed and crashed to the floor. Daniel swore as he clenched his bleeding nose. Kero did a wave like pattern with his torso, propelling him back onto his feet. Daniel swiped with his mace as Kero did a graceful spin out of the way. Daniel repeated his attack several times, only to have Kero lean to the opposite side of his planned attack. Kero then got smashed in the head by a mace. He held his throbbing cranium as he looked at the blood on Daniel's mace. He felt dizzy. Daniel then prepared to do the wheel attack again. Kero got up. He placed his weapon on two fingers, the index and middle, and begun to use Mana to spin the blade.

"This ends here, faggot." said Daniel.

"Ugggh..."

Daniel launched his attack and Kero charged ahead. His spinning blade begun to wobble. He then blocked with his shield as Daniel launched himself into the air and came crashing down. Sparks flew over the arena, causing an amber shower. Kero then thrust his spinning blade into the attack.

* * *

><p>"Hey bros. How's it going?"<p>

"Hey Sour!" they both said. "Two wins, Zero loses, Zero draws!"

"Three wins, nothing else." he replied. "Bonanza Bros for the fail."

The two Bonanza Bros frowned. SourPunch had always been the favourite of their master, Mighty Titan. Still, the four of them were a force to be reckoned with.

* * *

><p>Jake grunted. He tried to tap into his unique powers without going berserk like he had on three separate occasions: with the Gangsta Magez, with Francis and on the zeppelin. He crafted a small ball of purple Mana. By the time he was going to launch it, his opponent had knocked him to the floor with an Energy Bolt. He then got up and sent a flying kick into his opponent, who responded with propelling him into the air with Mana. Jake dropped his shield onto the mage, who clutched his head. As he landed back on the floor, he heard a whistle.<p>

"Time up! It's a draw." said the referee.

Jake grumbled and saw the leaderboard. One win, zero loses and one draw. He wondered how the others were doing.

* * *

><p>"It BURNS! Help! Argh!" yelled an archer. The referee sprayed the archer with water and blew the whistle.<p>

"Sabrina Friend wins the battle." he said as the archer sulked away and Sabrina blew the smoke off her sword and stared at the leaderboard. Two wins and one draw.

"I knew training this with Cruz would help. Too bad Jake didn't want to do it."

* * *

><p>A sword fell to the floor as Kero's attack was repelled by the spinning wheel. He kept his shield in position for a short time before being launched to the back of the arena, his shield falling outside the boundaries. Daniel prepared to wheel in at full speed, until he heard a whistle.<p>

"Daniel Indigo wins. Kero Mizrak is unable to fight."

"Wha-?"

"Shut up and get off the arena kiddo."

Daniel grumbled and jumped down. Kero sighed of relief and simply rolled down onto the floor and let off a couple of curses. He then saw someone turn his head towards him. It was SourPunch.

"Lost a battle? What's the score?"

"One win, one loss. One more fight to go."

"Pfft. I won all three."

"Good for you, but you don't have a psychopathic rival to fight."

"True..."

* * *

><p>A thief jumped down from his arena after winning his third battle and met with three others. They all wore black jumpsuits, with coloured sleeves and legs. This particular one wore red. The other three wore blue, green and yellow. All but the yellow one were boys.<p>

"So...how's it going my fellow ninjas?"

"Three wins." said Blue.

"Two wins and a draw. There was a Bonanza Bro who was mighty tough." said Green.

"Two wins and I yet to have my last battle." said Yellow.

"Good luck, Yellow." the others said.

"Hey look! You're up!" said Blue, pointing at the leaderboard.

"Bye guys!" said Yellow as she ran towards her arena. As soon as she arrived, the referee looked at her.

"Sorry pal, the other combatant is taking his time. Had an injury in battle. Seems quite severe, but he refuses to forfeit."

As soon as he finished, a boy was at the other end of the arena, leaning his bandaged head on the top. He looked at her, upside down, with an annoyed expression.

"Seriously?" she asked. "Tell the kiddo to forfeit, he stands no chance."

"Nah." the boy replied. "I'm fine. Who are you anyway? You look like a Power Ranger."

"That does not matter. You shall fall in battle as easily as an untrained and ungraceful man falls off a tightrope."

The boy looked even more annoyed.

"Cut the rhetoric and get to the part where I score a free KO."

"Precisely!" said the referee.

* * *

><p>A man in a black jumpsuit, with white legs and sleeves walked down the corridors of the coliseum, staring at the decorations on the wall. He then crashed into someone and landed flat on his rear end. The other person got up.<p>

"Watch where you're going, douche!"

"Who the hell are you anyway? Because I am a professional thief trainer, the Ninja Master!"

"I am Cruz, warrior and trainer."

"My trainees can kick yours' asses any day."

"Wanna bet?"

"Fifty thousand Meso?"

"Deal!" they said simultaneously, shaking hands and glaring at each other.

* * *

><p>Kero Mizrak stared at his final opponent. He climbed onto the arena and took the bloodstained bandage off his head. His opponent was a ninja...or some other sort of Power Ranger ripoff.<p>

"Let's get this show on the road!" he said.

"Fine with me...but this will be your defeat!"

"Not today!"

The two jumped up and attacked. Kero used his Gladius and the ninja took out a hidden sword. They clashed in midair and fell to the ground. The ninja tossed her Shuriken at Kero, who crouched down and covered himself with his shield. As soon as he got back up, the ninja was gone. He then heard a whisper in his left ear that sent a chill down his spine.

"Hello. Goodbye."

He then felt as if he was being chocked. He then saw two hands around his neck. The thief had used Dark Sight! Kero struggled as hard as he could to get out of her grasp, but he simply could not move. He then felt the blade slightly puncture his leg. The ninja dropped him to the floor.

"That should finish you off." she said, turning around.

Five seconds later, she was being chocked. Kero held her high in the air with one arm and flipped his sword with the other.

"Never underestimate the brute force and sheer will of the warrior."

He then let her go, regretting his move moments later. She spun on the ground tripping him over and launched a Shuriken between his legs.

"AAAAAAAARGH!"

She smiled as Kero pulled the Shuriken out of the small slit in his armour. Before he could recover, she sent a powerful kick to his head, knocking him over. He got up, dropping his sword and sent a punch to her stomach. For ten seconds, they exchanged powerful and fast blows until Kero combined a Power Strike and a punch. Yellow flew to the other side of the arena and got up. She wiped the blood off the corner of her mouth and they continued the duel.

* * *

><p>"Well I guess I'll be seeing you later." said Aran as he stepped onto a boat...whale with an iceberg.<p>

"Farewell, Aran. I wish you good luck." said his penguin sensei.

"Hmph. Farewell." said Maha.

"BYYYYYYYYE ARAN!" screamed Lilin in a fangirl fashion.

The penguin on the whale pushed away from the harbour with an oar and held out a fishing rod with a fish in front of the whale. The whale made a noise and sailed off into the sunset.

* * *

><p><strong>Kero VS Ninja Yellow! Who will win? And Aran is heading to Victoria Island! How will the hero from long ago do in this new world?<strong>

**Boring chapter, I know.**


	19. In or out

**Does anyone like the new story cover? Also, most of chapter 3 has been rewritten.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own MapleStory or its characters (owned by Nexon) except my own OC's.**

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 19: In or out?<strong>

Kero panted and dropped his shield. His adversary was equally tired. Yellow tried to use Dark Sight but failed. Kero charged up a green aura around his blade and pointed it at Yellow. She chuckled, closed her eyes and then opened them. They had begun to glow an eerie blue.

"With this I can read your Mana. I can see what you will do ahead of time, and I can see what you think."

Kero lunged at her, but she dodged at the precise moment, stabbing him in the side with her sword. Kero tried to repeat the manoeuvre, only to be jumped over and chocked with her feet. He got up, only to realize Yellow's blade was at neckpoint. Something about the eyes made it very ominous. The referee began counting down to indicate her victory. He closed his eyes and begun to think. Aha! After a couple of seconds, Yellow shrieked in shock as her eyes returned to normal. The referee stopped the countdown and Kero drew his blade again. As soon as the two dashed into combat, the referee blew the timeout whistle.

"Draw. Nobody could win in the two minute time period."

Yellow offered her hand and they shook.

"That was an excellent battle. I hope we meet some time again."

"Same to you." replied Kero.

As they hopped off the arena, Yellow frowned.

"What you did back then was pretty sick though, not in the nice way."

"Win by any means." said Kero. With that, the two parted. Kero went towards the exit. He assumed that the rankings would be announced after all battles were over. He looked at the screen. There was a bar at 67%. It had been an hour since he began, so there would be a small time to relax. He walked out of the high-tech room and ran into Cruz talking to another ninja.

"What's with the ninjas today anyways?" he asked.

Cruz turned around. "Ah, good timing Kero. You seem to be familiar with the Power Ranger rip-offs, so tell him how bad you beat them."

The ninja glared at him.

"Draw." said Kero.

The ninja smiled. "See, Cruz. We're tougher than you think."

"You wanna bet?"

"What, fifty thousand isn't good enough?"

"Five million! What do you say?"

Kero facepalmed.

"You're betting on me?" he asked.

"Trust me, a lot of people bet on tournaments. SourPunch is all the rage in the votes since he's Titan's best student." said Cruz.

"You know him?" asked the ninja.

"Yup. Titan trained Kero for a while."

Just before a full-scale argument could break out, the doors burst open with Jake and SourPunch laughing hardly. Kero walked off to greet them and the ninja frowned.

"Cruz one, ninja none." said Cruz. Kero, Jake and Sour walked towards him, crying of laughter.

"I swear that is the BEST JOKE EVER!" yelled Jake. "Now I'm hungry..."

"We're all hungry..." said Kero. "Let's go eat."

A crowd of ten people walked out, each splitting up as they exited the door. With them was Sabrina, who walked over to the quartet (quintet if you include the ninja). They all went upstairs, leaving a frustrated ninja behind them. Four ninjas walked out of the doors.

"I'm hungry..." muttered Green.

The lead ninja, White, clenched his fists. "Darn warrior." he thought.

"I still beat you." said Red, pointing at blue. "I had stronger foes."

White composed himself. "How were your battles.

"Three wins for us two," pointing at Blue and himself. "Two wins and a draw for Green and Yellow."

"How did you fail to win one of the matches?" asked White.

"Bonanza Bro."

"Don't want to talk about it..."

* * *

><p>Kero sat on the long table with Jake, Cruz, Sabrina and SourPunch. Every smaller table was full. They all sat on one side. Kero, Jake and Sabrina had Unagi. SourPunch had five Unagi. Cruz had a tropical drink. Jake spotted the ninjas walking in.<p>

"Hey Jake. You there?" asked Sabrina.

"Yeah...and so are the ninjas."

"Ninjas! Where?" yelled Kero, standing up. As soon as he realized the entire cafeteria was staring at him he sat back down.

"What ninjas?" asked Sabrina.

The cafeteria returned to normal and the ninjas sat down on the opposite end of the table.

"If you don't mind. All the other tables are full." said White, who had sat opposite Cruz. Red was opposite Kero, Yellow was opposite Jake, Green was opposite Sabrina and Blue was opposite SourPunch. Green winked at Sabrina. Sabrina slapped green in the face.

"Great start..." muttered Cruz.

"Indeed." said White.

Whilst the left side(Sabrina, SourPunch, Blue and Green) entered a mad argument, the right side(Kero, Jake, Red and Yellow) got off fine.

"So, how were your fights?" asked Jake to no-one in particular. "I won one and tied two. Not too shabby..."

"Easy." said Red. "Beat all three opponents like nothing."

"Easy, got owned, draw." said Kero.

"All three fights were easy, but I did not win one."

"Way to patronize yourself Yellow. Let's face it: I gave you a run for your money."

Red stared at Kero

"I am surprised you could hold Yellow off. She is a powerful adversary. Even I rarely beat her."

Seeing that Yellow and Jake were in conversation, Red leaned over and his tone of voice changed from friendly to slightly menacing.

"Explain." he said. "Nobody has ever managed to defeat Yellow's Mana Vision. How did you do it?"

Kero laughed. "She said she could read my mind. So I thought of her in a bikini that she was taking off in a public place when everyone was looking. In great detail. Worked well enough."

Red chuckled. "That is unique. And kinda disturbing too."

Red ducked as a plate of Unagi flew across the table. "That's some argument over there..."

* * *

><p>Half an hour had passed since they had left the arena. The ten of them (Five ninjas, Team Nine and SourPunch) walked back towards the arenas. This time, it was much more crowded. Dances with Balrog was preparing the rankings.<p>

"As you may know, only half the participants here will pass. So five hundred and twelve will stay and five hundred and twelve will go.

He began to announce the names. SourPunch was in third. Ninja Red was in fifth. Daniel Indigo was in tenth. Ninja Blue was in fifteenth. Ninja Yellow was in sixtieth. Ninja Green was in sixty fourth. Sabrina was in a hundred and thirty eight. Jake was in two hundred and fifty seventh. As the names reached the five hundreds, Kero had still not been announced.

"In five hundred and tenth, Quincy DeVan. In five hundred and eleventh, Jun Aaronax. In five hundred and twelfth..."

Everybody stared at Kero with their fingers crossed, who had a solemn face.

"Leonard Clancey."

Kero's face sunk. His dream...had been smashed. A lone tear rolled down his cheek.

"You're chances are pitiful. We've won the bet." whispered White into Cruz's ear.

Dances with Balrog was given a paper and gave back the one he was holding.

"Oh...We have a slight issue here. It has been revealed that two people are not who they seem. Therefore, they are to be disqualified. Two new people are to be added onto the qualified rooster."

Kero smiled slightly and Jake gave him a pat him on the back.

"Michael Zegar and Vanessa Eleanor are now to be qualified."

Out of the blue, two people somewhere were handcuffed, and revealed to be spies working for the Black Wings.

"Sorry you didn't get in." said Sabrina. She hugged Kero and then looked at the two spies. A boy next to Kero lifted his hand up.

"Dances with Balrog. My mission has failed without my comrades and I would like to forfeit this tournament." he said, holding up his Black Wings badge.

"Another spy?" asked Dances. "Well, now qualified is..." he stopped to look at his paper "Kero Mizrak."

"..."

"Kero? You OK?" asked SourPunch.

"YEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAH!" he screamed, punching the air.

"Overreaction much?" asked Sabrina as the ninjas laughed.

* * *

><p>A Dark Knight stood on one of the beams above the podium. He swore. Why did that spy reveal himself? Why did Kero enter? He had rigged the scores so that Kero was three spots below qualification. He was really supposed to be in four hundred and eighty first. But he didn't want Kero to enter. Nobody knew about what would happen. Nobody knew about the danger looming over them. And for once, it wasn't the bloody Gangsta Magez doing their random crap.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>More very interesting filler and dramatic plot twists(I think). This is really a crossover between a filler chapter and a main chapter. Reviews appreciated.<strong>

**Who will the gang fight on their first battles in the main tournament?  
>Will Team Nine be friends with the ninjas, or will they be enemies?<br>Who will win the bet, Ninja White or Cruz?  
>And just who is this mysterious Dark Knight who rigged the scores for Kero to be disqualified?<strong>

**Find out next time on DragonBall Z...I mean MapleStory: Warrior Brothers. **


	20. The true fight begins!

**Notice: If anyone's wondering what Macro Skills are, they're custom skills (there's a menu in the game that lets you combine skills, but this is Warrior Brothers. There's something more epic than that here.)**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own MapleStory or its characters (owned by Nexon) except my own OC's.**

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 20: The true fight begins!<strong>

"Boy was that easy." said Jake as he spun his sword.

"Pfft. Of course it was easy." replied Sabrina. "Kero?"

"Easy as easy can be." he added, not looking up from a note. The three had finished their first rounds in the main coliseum. It was a massive arena, turned into five smaller ones. It was outdoors, surrounded entirely by the main complex. Kero, Jake and Sabrina were resting up in the waiting room. Four hours had passed since the main tournament begun, it was now two in the afternoon. There would be an hour-long rest where everyone could eat, sleep or train after the second round, which would be two hours long.

"What's that?" asked Jake.

"A note."

"I know it's a note. What kind of note."

"A note that is written on paper."

Jake facepalmed and snatched it from Kero's hand.

"Hey! Give that back."

"No way!"

"Fine..." he grumbled.

Jake read the note out loud.

"This letter will self-destruct in 10 seconds." read Jake. "Wait...WHAT?"

A burst of smoke surrounded Jake as he coughed. "Oh, real mature Kero!"

Kero chuckled. "Ninja Red gave it to me. If it receives even the slightest flow of Mana, it will explode."

"And why exactly are you using explosive papers?" asked Sabrina.

"Concealed weapons are allowed." said Kero.

"True." added Jake.

Kero yawned. "So...who's ready to kick butt?"

"I am..." said Jake "...but I don't need to since the judges will definitely graduate me since I was so awesome last round."

"No you weren't." said Sabrina. The judges were the five job instructors. They evaluated on the fights and would graduate the students accordingly. You didn't have to place well. Just fight like a boss.

"Says who? Ninja pink?"

Kero and Sabrina laughed. Ninja Red, who was with some other people elsewhere in the waiting room shouted:

"I heard that!"

The entire waiting room entered into a momentary burst of laughter. Ninja Red went red.

Kero took out another note. Jake wasn't going to fall for it again. Of course, this one wasn't a trick, but an actual note.

_To Kero..._

Victor walked up from behind and grabbed the note.

"Loser!"

Jake opened his eyes wide. "It's a trap!"

"Huh?" replied Victor as Kero swapped the note with a charged explosive one.

"This letter will self-destruct in ten seconds..."

For the second time in about a minute, there was a small explosion in the room.

"Ok Inspector Gadget, you're going down!" yelled Victor. Kero pointed behind him. One of the neon signs on the wall had changed. It read Kero Mizrak(Perion) VS Victor Jimenez (Perion).

"Well Mizzie, looks like we're gonna fight big time!"

* * *

><p>Kero Mizrak stood on the opposite end of the arena as Victor. Jake, Sabrina, Cruz and SourPunch were sitting in the crowded seats of the coliseum. They were soon joined by Ninja White. Kero didn't care though. A signal was given and the two rivals jumped towards each other. Kero jumped to one side as Victor sent a smash with his spear. Kero attacked quickly with his sword, too quickly for Victor's slow spear to block.<p>

"Nice..." commented Victor as he launched his spear at Kero like a javelin, which the latter barely dodged. Victor ran up to the wall where the spear had gotten stuck and tore it out. He turned around, only to be hit by a Power Blast that tore through his armour top. Victor stared down and then punched Kero in the gut. He flew back, but quickly got on top of his shield and rode it across the dusty surface of the coliseum.

"Surf's up!" he yelled as he rammed straight into Victor, who tried to attack but his efforts were in vain. Victor, now on the floor charged at Kero, holding his spear high above his head.

"Take this!" he screamed, using his spear as a pole vault and launching himself high into the air. His spear began to glow an eerie red as he moved his arm back.

"Macro Skill! Death's Hail!" he added, launching his weapon, which quickly divided into more energy spears that hailed down on top of Kero, who had kneeled down and shielded his entire body. As the dust cleared, Kero lowered his shield, when he saw an incoming fist, blowing him over to the other side of the arena, leaving blood in his wake. He got up, wiping his mouth on his sleeve. He balanced his sword on two fingers and tried to spin it. Faster and faster it spun. Kero charged towards Victor with his sword picking up speed quickly. As Victor raised his weapon, it was too late. Kero smashed his weapon, surrounded by spinning Mana and wind. The gyroscopic blades of air and magic created a multitude of small cuts on Victor's face, armour and spear. It also sent him flying quite a distance.

"Not bad, Mizzie!" said Victor, taking out a diverse selection of pills. "But are you good enough for _this_?" he added, taking a bite out of the drugs. Suddenly, a surge of power flew out of him. He launched himself forwards and smashed Kero with his weapon. Kero blocked with his shield, only to be blown away.

* * *

><p>"He finally mastered my skill..." said Cruz.<p>

"That pathetic attack is your idea?" mocked Ninja White.

"You should see it when I'm the one using it."

"Why? Does it spin a tad faster?"

"It's stronger than you think..."

"Oh, and you do realize your student is being pummelled by a creep on what seems like steroids."

* * *

><p>Victor smashed straight at Kero, who was in a much worse state than he was before. He spun around and smacked Kero in the side, causing him to fall over. He then tried to stab Kero with his spear, only avoided with some nifty shieldwork. Kero smashed his shield into Victor's face and tried to send him flying, but his overworked body would not budge. Out of worry, he took a few steps away from his enemy.<p>

"DIE MIZRAK!"

Kero dodged his rapid fury of stabs and kicked him in the stomach. Victor, unflinching, grabbed his neck, jumped up and smashed him onto the floor. He then lifted Kero up again and tossed him to the other side of the arena, causing him to roll over and crash into the stone walls.

Victor was sweating hard for some reason. Probably his pills. Kero was baffled. Couldn't anyone see that Victor was consuming illegal products? It was clearly stated in Victorian and Ossyrian law that those under a certain age (18) or level(45) could not consume pills, only potions, unless in a dire situation with no alternative. Now, those who bothered to follow the law were few and far between And even so, they weren't allowed in the tournament. Victor did another pole vault and prepared to use Death's Hail. As his spear glowed a deep red, his eyes shut and he collapsed to the ground.

"Wow. Didn't see that coming." said Kero as he stepped over his 'steroid'-pumped rival.

The referee blew his whistle. "And advancing to the next round, Kero Mizrak."

But Kero was long gone.

* * *

><p>Kero walked through the hallways of the coliseum to the highest floor. He knocked on the door.<p>

"Come in." a female voice said.

Kero opened the door. In there were the five job instructors. Dances with Balrog, Grendel the really old, Athena Pierce, the Dark Lord and Krylin.

"Pfft." said Krylin, who was the one who had let him in. "What do you want?"

Kero looked out of the massive glass pane on the wall that overlooked the entire main arena of the coliseum. "You have all this view and nobody noticed Victor Jimenez taking drugs? He should have been disqualified immediately."

"We did see him. However, it is unwise to act hastily. We do not know what he was taking was legal or not. We saw him eating, yet what was he eating?" asked Grendel.

"..."

"You defeated him anyways. You should be proud if he was taking illegal products. For you have proved yourself stronger than him while he was using said products. We shall investigate further, but for now, you may leave."

Kero bowed as it is custom to do and left the room, shutting the door behind him. He then got out a note.

_To Kero..._

_Good luck._

Wait...that was it? The note he had gone through so much trouble to keep a secret just said good luck? Damnit! He wished it was explosive, so he could blow it up with his Mana. Suddenly, the paper began to glow an eerie blue. Kero stopped the Mana flow. The paper stopped glowing. He inserted more Mana. It was blue, but there were no changes. He then turned it around and saw the rest of the message, invisible unless the paper had been charged.

_If you're reading this, then it's because it happened by accident or you are Kero Mizrak. If it is the latter, then burn this letter, tear it to shreds or dispose of it in any way possible. Good? So now I know you're Kero Mizrak, I have to tell you this. It is important and private. I suggest you read this before the tournament finishes or else..._

"Reading a note again Kero?" asked Jake, who had walked around the corner. "I seriously doubt you have an explosive one this time. Is it some sort of love letter?"

Kero blushed. He didn't know, but the chances were, it was.

"I've been with you for months. I can read your face." added Jake, as he covered his right eye. "They don't call me Madeyeball for nothing."

Kero tried to say something, but Jake let out a shout of triumph. "It's definitely something secret. And it's Mana activated paper. Which means it is possible to be from a ninja. And unless one of the ninjas is...you know...then it's obvious that it's from Yellow."

"Wow. That's some good face reading..." thought Kero to himself. But before he could react, Jake had grabbed the paper and began to read. Kero snatched it back. "What did you see?"

"Just a lot of privacy warnings."

The door opened. It was Krylin.

"Just what do you two boys think you're doing up here. Go back to the waiting room."

"Yes Krylin." said Kero.

"My eyes are up here."

Kero blushed again. Jake laughed.

"That goes for you too!"

With that, Krylin slammed the door and the two boys walked back downstairs.

"What was that all about?" asked Jake.

"Just drop it." said Kero.

"I mean, I know she's in a fur cape and a bikini..."

"What did I just say?"

"Drop it, I know. Jeez. Just saying, she's hot."

* * *

><p>The one-hour break had come way earlier than expected for Kero, Jake and Sabrina due to the fact that their second battles were relatively early and therefore, could have a longer break. The three had a light lunch and Kero went to have a 2-hour sleep. So did Sabrina. Jake went to find SourPunch and maybe the ninjas too. Kero went to reception, paid 300 meso and got a key. He then went to one of the many bedrooms in the coliseum (which doubled up as a hotel for long-distance visitors). He sat on the bed and remembered the note.<p>

_If you're reading this, then it's because it happened by accident or you are Kero Mizrak. If it is the latter, then burn this letter, tear it to shreds or dispose of it in any way possible. Good? So now I know you're Kero Mizrak, I have to tell you this. It is important and private. I suggest you read this before the tournament finishes or else it will be all over for you._

"This doesn't sound like a love letter..." he muttered to himself.

_I am here to warn you of an incoming threat. They will be here by nightfall. They will come and kill you all. The invasion is coming .No-one will find out about it until it is too late. Kero Mizrak, heed my warning. Leave Perion. Never turn back, or they will hunt you down. Heed this warning and may the light of the Maple Gods shine down on you._

_Yours truly, Spearhead._

"Now that REALLY doesn't sound like a love letter..." he added, re-reading the paper. Spearhead was the name of a member of the Xingshati, a potent band of ten criminals, all so strong that they made Cruz look pale in comparison. The Xingshati were feared in all of the Maple World, more than the Gangsta Magez. Everybody knew about the Xingshati. A famed explorer named FangBlade joined them not too long ago, which had sparked an outrage. They were the elite of the elite, nobody could match their power when they were all together. They were all 'level 200', yet they knew how to use and control their power better than anybody else of the same strength. And he was receiving a letter from a member? Fat chance, it was probably someone who didn't want him to fight. Kero tore the paper to shreds, put the shreds in his mouth and downed it with water. He soon dozed off to sleep.

* * *

><p>Spearhead the Dark Knight made himself visible. He knew how to use Dark Sight: a vital skill for stealth and assassination.<p>

"Damn kid… I have enough trouble without him. Consider yourself lucky Mizrak…"

* * *

><p><strong>Epic tournament is epic. I will only be narrating the important fights so prepare for some epic battles of epicenes coming soon! Off topic, check out my other MapleStory related story, It doesn't work like that. It's romance but it's on crack.<strong>

**Who will be the next opponents of Team Nine?  
>How will Cruz and Ninja White get on?<br>Is the impending doom for Perion true or just a hoax?  
>And just what does a member of the Xingshati have to do with Kero?<strong>

**Find out next time on Naruto...I mean MapleStory: Warrior Brothers.**


	21. Nightmare

**I won't call this a filler chapter since it is arguably the most important chapter for character development in the entire story.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own MapleStory or its characters (owned by Nexon) except my own OC's.**

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 21: Nightmare<strong>

I woke up. I still felt tired despite an hour of rest. An explosion rocked the building. I ran through a series of broken walls until I arrived outside. The sun was setting and many hi-tech aircraft swooped in above the skies, each one coming down to blast people with laser weapons. Some warriors managed to catch the aircraft with their weapons, shredding the jets as if they were foil. Many footsoldiers used energy cannons and swords to deal with land resistance. Some were using flamethrowers and grenades to destroy any buildings. But they all had the sign of a scorpion on their armour, weapons or wings. I drew my sword and dealt a punishing blow to a lone trooper. I picked up his A.R.C. Energy Cannon, shaped like a gatling gun with a field of electricity at the end, and sent a volley of energy at a group of enemies. I ran as fast as I could towards the potion store, praying to get there in time. As soon as I got there, a soldier threw a grenade in the shop and it went up with a bang.

"No!"

"Forget it missy. They're probably dead." said the soldier, with a massive grin on his face. I revealed my A.R.C. Energy Cannon and pulled the trigger. The blasts mutilated the soldier, ravaging his face and upper torso. I felt handcuffs. Turning around, I saw a man. He wore futuristic armour, kind of skinny and was in his late thirties. He was tall and had jet black hair, and a very long but thin moustache.

"Pffft. You are not worth killing. You are weak."

Said statement made my blood boil.

"Your pitiful town, Perion, shall fall to the Scorpion Kingdom!"

"Shut up! I'll beat you to a pulp!"

"Haha! You think you're a match for me? Tell you what, if you can survive a swordfight with me for two minutes, I'll let you go. Watchya say?"

"Challenge accepted!"

The man drew out his thin blade and severed the handcuffs. I took my sword out and stared at the man.

"Did I mention I am the king of this empire? So prepare to die!"

"Empires are ruled by emperors, not kings."

The king ignored me and rushed up. I did the same and our swords clash. The king suddenly disappeared. I looked around. Not left. Not right. Not behind. Above! Too late, I realized I had been impaled in the back. It hurt. I felt nauseous as I fell down to the ground.

"Only the Scorpion Kingdom have true power. You are a mere warrior. You are measly. Now stay down and die."

I woke up. I was still in the coliseum, in the same room I fell asleep. Arms, check. Legs, check. Some nightmare... I then felt a familiar energy for an instance. It felt like Jake's aura. What was going on?

* * *

><p>Kero woke up. The alarm had gone off.<p>

"I want more nap..." he muttered.

"Get up!" an unfamiliar voice said. Kero shot up and saw a slightly familiar face. A face that was on wanted posters and crimewatch on TV. Kero shot back down under the covers.

"I ain't here to kill you kid. Get up."

Kero slowly poked his head out again. It was definitely Spearhead of the Xingshati. What was going on?

"Kid, consider yourself lucky. I'm telling you. Get outta here before sunset. A new threat will kill you all."

Kero scratched his head. "Which is?"

"The army of a lost kingdom. It is the Scorpion Kingdom of Ariant! You must flee Perion. Do not return."

Kero rolled his eyes. "Who are you really?"

"Do you want me to drag you unconscious out of Perion or not?"

Kero quickly brandished his sword, only to have Spearhead disappear. The next second, Jake and Sabrina were at the door.

"Talking to yourself?" he asked.

"No..." said Kero, punching the air where he guessed Spearhead was. He felt flesh. "You sound like my brother" he muttered at the Xingshati member, a bit too loudly.

"You have a brother?" asked Jake.

"..."

"I'll take that as a yes but something went wrong."

As the three walked off, Spearhead reappeared with a bloody nose.

"Stupid Mizrak."

* * *

><p>A young boy, no older than seven, held a short sword in one hand. He stared down his foe. This was it. He spun his weapon and accidentally dropped it. He picked it up again and stared at the one-eyed monster. They were about the same height. He charged at the stump and smashed it with his sword. The stump jumped back in fright and rammed the boy, who fell over. The stump hopped in the air and landed on the boy. He stabbed the stump in the eye, making it run around like crazy. The boy smiled and attacked it a few more times, until one final blow split it in two.<p>

"Yay! I beat a stump!" he said, jumping up and down.

"You remind me of myself when I was little." said a nonchalant teenager. He had black Dragoon robes and held a polearm in one hand. His hair was a brownish red and it was messy.

"Did you see me bro?" said the little kid.

"Yes Kero, I saw you. Now watch me!" he said, jumping high above his younger brother towards a herd of stumps. He surrounded his weapon in a purple aura and smashed the earth in the middle of the pack. Massive purple shockwaves went in every direction, blowing stumps away left and right. He then kicked one up into the air and unleashed a fast and furious combo on it, before sending it into a group of surviving wood, instantly turning them into splinters. He then spun on his toes, holding his polearm out, spinning round and round, obliterating any remaining stumps.

"Wow Lance! That was really cool!" said Kero, jumping up and down again. "I wanna do that too!"

Lance walked towards his younger brother and ruffled his hair. "Maybe someday..."

* * *

><p>"And then I was like in awe at him."<p>

Jake burst into laughter. He had managed to cheer Kero up at last and now they were telling stupid tales of their childhood with Sabrina.

"And you could barely kill a stump when you were seven?" asked Sabrina. She then shivered for some reason.

"Nope." said Kero.

"And what happened to Lance?" asked Jake.

"Remember that honour student who disappeared five years ago?" asked Sabrina.

"Oh, that's him..." said Jake.

"Shouldn't we be starting to get to the tournament? The next part is about to begin." asked Kero.

"True." said Jake. As the three walked ahead, Sabrina felt an odd energy. It was coming from Jake again. It was giving her a headache. She took an aspirin from her potion bag and continued ahead.

* * *

><p><strong>I have nothing to say here. Until next time. Oh and just in case you didn't figure it out already, the dream was Sabrina's.<strong>

**Find out next time on Naruto...I mean MapleStory: Warrior Brothers.**


	22. A shade of purple

**I have now recovered my will to write. Shame, the summer holidays are almost over.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own MapleStory or its characters (owned by Nexon) except my own OC's.**

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 22: A shade of purple<strong>

"Another easy battle." said Kero to Jake as they watched SourPunch in the arena

"You too? I beat mine in like half a minute."

"Same. Hey...I'm pretty certain we'll graduate to second job, but where in the tournament do you think we're gonna place?"

Jake pondered for a minute. "You'll be second. You're a great fighter and quite tactical. Anybody who has a chess kit in their room is definitely into strategy. And me...I'll whoop your ass and be first."

"Fat chance."

Jake chuckled. Just then, Kero noticed three people had sat down. The Ninjas, all minus blue, who Kero spotted in one of the arenas, had come.

"Ah, I was going to talk to you." said Cruz as he noticed Ninja White.

"About the bet?"

"Yes, about the bet. Four on three is a bit unfair, am I right?"

"I suppose so. If I win, I won't make you pay as much. Deal?"

"Deal."

"They're betting on us?" asked Jake.

"Yeah." replied Kero. "Five million. And if I win, I'd better get some of that."

Cruz then raised his voice. "No you're not!"

Suddenly, the crowd erupted in a cheer as SourPunch slamed his opponent with his signature move: Titanic Hammer. Boy was he good. Kero, SourPunch, Jake, Sabrina and all four ninjas were in the top sixty four, with SourPunch and Ninja Red already into the top 32. The lights on the scoreboard changed. SOUR PUNCH and QUINCY DE VAN disappeared and two more names showed up.

KERO MIZRAK

DANIEL INDIGO

"Again?" asked Sabrina, obviously perplexed by said opponent. Kero had already faced him twice since she had known him.

High above the arena, flying on a Red Draco, Spearhead stared down at the scoreboard.

"If this doesn't work, nothing will."

* * *

><p>"You feeling OK Sab?" asked Kero as he noticed her taking yet another aspirin.<p>

"Yeah...I'm fine." In reality, she wasn't. She was still distressed by the dream and was constantly agitated by the energy she was sensing. It had been two minutes since Kero's name had been announced. He was in full gear and ready to fight. As he walked out into the arena, he saw his adversary.

"So, are you ready to meet your fate?" asked Daniel as he turned towards Kero , in a very sinister fashion.

"No...so prepare to duel!"

"I can see your fear. You fear my power."

"Please speak sense."

As silence ensued, the two lunged towards each other at blinding speed. Kero lunged and Daniel dodged, quickly smashing Kero in the back. Kero did a roll and they charged again. Daniel tossed his mace into the air and tried to smash Kero again. The latter shielded himself quickly, causing Daniel to bounce off. Kero used a Power Strike, slicing through Daniel's armour.

"Nice. But is it nice enough?"

Daniel surrounded himself in orange energy and sent off a rapid-fire volley at Kero, scorching his face and blowing him back a considerable distance. Then, said aura became a hand, Kero got up again, barely avoiding the hand being used like a fly-swatter. He dashed towards Daniel and barely failed to land a Power Strike. As Kero recovered from his own attack's recoil, the hand flicked Kero in the face, sending him across the arena. Daniel wasted no time and created a massive amount of small orange orbs that soon surrounded Kero and impacted him one by one.

* * *

><p>"Woah! That's some attack!" said Jake, who was watching the battle with SourPunch and the younger Ninjas except for Blue who was still fighting.<p>

"He's toast. Even I can't dodge that." said Ninja Red. "And I've been told that Daniel is ruthless and will kill whenever he has the chance." Ninja Green nodded grimly. Ninja Yellow's eyes were shut, as she was probably in deep thought.

"What do you think Sour?" asked Red.

"He's burnt toast."

* * *

><p>"Ow, ow, OW!" yelled Kero as he was being pelted by the constant bombardment of fiery energy. Only a third of the orbs were gone and he already felt charred. Each hit felt like an eternity, but he could still not tell where each one was coming from.<p>

"Left."

"What?" asked Kero to nobody in particular. The voice was a soft whisper in his right ear, nobody could speak that quietly from the seats but there was nobody else in that part of the arena. Kero turned to the left and managed to block the orb.

"Right."

Kero blocked right and the orb impacted his shield.

"Up."

"Forward."

"Left."

"Right."

"Behind you."

As the last orb was blocked, Kero stared down at his adversary, who was obviously out of breath from the attack.

"How did you survive?"

"Because you're too slow!" yelled Kero as he charged a full-power Power Strike and slashed Daniel straight in the chest. He heard a scream as his blade cut through metal and flesh. Yikes...

As he withdrew his weapon, he saw he had severely cut through Daniel. No potion would cure that...

"And the winner is..."

"IMMA FIREN MAH LAZOR!"

"Holy crap!" yelled Kero as he jumped back. Daniel's wound closed instantly with an orange glow and shot out a massive blue beam from his mouth. Kero was barely standing after the beam stopped. Daniel recovered his orange aura and three massive arms emerged from the boiling aura. All three came from his back, two heading towards the sides and one pointing upwards. Daniel's physique had altered, making him look square...as if he was made out of rock. He used all three arms to punch Kero, who was knocked back quite the distance. The arms started attacking too quickly for Kero to keep up with, and soon he was hoisted high above Daniel.

"I am the superior one. I always have been. And you learn too late." said Daniel as he used his side arms as legs, to propel himself up high. He then spun as fast as he could and slammed Kero into the earth. As Kero landed, Daniel flung him away, turned his middle arm into a drill of sorts and rammed it through the earth. It came out, pushing up solid rock and then drilled Kero in the face. Several gasps were heard from the crowd. Kero put his hand on the boiling field of energy and pushed it away. He had a minor wound on his nose, but that was it.

"Now that's how you use Iron Body, folks." said Kero to nobody in particular. His metallic hue disappeared from his skin as he prepared another Power Strike. There was no use in trying to use his Macro skill, he wasn't good enough at it yet. He charged towards his enemy, somersaulting over him and bringing the blade down on the upper orange arm. The arm fell off, leaving it to turn into a liquid and was absorbed by Daniel. Kero quickly used another Power Strike but Daniel's two extra arms took hold of him. As he turned around, Kero noticed his eyes were bloodshot and he was almost frothing from the mouth. He began to crush Kero with his hands, slowly but surely. Kero launched his sword through Daniel's left energy arm, causing it to fall off, making him flinch in pain and drop Kero to the floor. Kero took this opportunity to stab Daniel in the chest with a Power Strike. As he pierced Daniel's armour, blood splattered everywhere.

"Faggot..." muttered Daniel as his eyes closed as soon as the blade penetrated him. The orange aura and the last energy arm disappeared towards the wound. Kero withdrew his sword, watching as the cut instantly healed its self, leaving nothing but a small scar.

"And the winner is Kero Mizrak"

Kero sighed as he took his armour off. He heard quite a few cheers from the crowd as he headed towards to the waiting room. In there, he was greeted by Jake, SourPunch and Sabrina. Next to him, Ninja Blue had also finished his battle and was greeted by his teammates too.

"Hey Jake. You're up!" yelled SourPunch. Indeed, the light said something.

JAKE (Perion)

GREEN (Kerning)

"Ninja Green stared at Jake, who stared right back."

"Well this will be good." said Sabrina, who ushered everybody towards the seats."

Cruz then entered the room. "Going anywhere?"

"C'mon, let's see Jake kick some ninja butt!" said SourPunch.

"No you!" yelled Red.

As everybody headed towards the seats, Kero began falling behind.

"Are you OK?" asked Yellow.

"I'm fine." said Kero, who was obviously not fine. There were several first-degree burns on his face, a wound on his nose and his clothes were blood-stained.

"No you're not." she said. You don't know how badly you're hurt until you see it. Kero lifted the front of his T-Shirt up to prove Yellow wrong, but what he saw was quite disturbing. There was a massive gash on his stomach, exposing a lot of flesh. How did that even happen if his clothes weren't torn?

"I'll get my herbs..." she muttered. "While you're waiting, go hit the showers."

* * *

><p>Jake and Ninja Green glared at each other. Green took hold of a couple of throwing knives. Jake took hold of his sword and shield. Green disappeared and in the blink of an eye appeared infront of Jake, assaulting him with his knives. Jake blocked the attack and countered with a Power Strike, but Green disappeared before he could land the hit. The ninja reappeared in midair and rapidly preformed multiple hand signs before ramming his palm into Jake, who toppled over. As if on cue, Jake was electrocuted by Green's attack.<p>

"Not so strong, are you?" he asked, before sending a roundhouse kick into Jake's stomach. The ninja created multiple illusions of himself and surrounded Jake. He then proceeded to draw his sword and charged in for the finishing blow.

_**KABOOM!**_

Jake let out an explosion of purple energy, annihilating the illusions and blasting Green back quite a long way away.

"Wow. Unexpected."

"Your move, Green!"

"You will regret that!"

Ninja Green dashed towards Jake, periodically warping forwards in the middle of his dash. Jake dashed towards Ninja Green, periodically using purple Mana to boost forwards. As the two slashed each other with their swords, a massive explosion of energy appeared in the middle. They both used their magical power to try to overpower the other, to no avail. Sparks showered the arena in a purple and green glow.

* * *

><p>"That's a crowd pleaser..." muttered SourPunch.<p>

"You can beat him, Jake!" said Cruz through clenched teeth.

"You can beat him, Green!" said White through clenched teeth.

* * *

><p>"Owch! Careful with that." said Kero as he felt the sting of yet another blob of herb paste. Yellow sighed and put another one on, applying quite a bit of force.<p>

"Are you purposely trying to hurt me?" he asked.

"Quit whining and I won't."

Yellow was almost done patching up Kero's wounds. Her herb paste seemed to be very effective, but it stung like hell.

"There. You're done. Happy?"

Kero put back on his T-Shirt and shrugged.

"Been happier."

"Fine with me."

The two were in one of the hallways of the coliseum, next to the locker and shower rooms. It was more or less empty, as most people were watching the battles. One man came out of the locker rooms.

"Are you Kero Mizrak?" he asked.

"Excuse me? Isn't it courtesy to tell your own name first?" asked Yellow.

"Apologies. My name is Jason." he said as he offered his hand to shake.

"Kero Mizrak here, nice to meet you." said Kero.

Suddenly, Jason's eyes glowed a deep purple as several electrical pulses were sent into Kero's body, who fell to the floor. He then got up with the same purple glow.

"Testing, testing. Abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz. Yep, this is the perfect vessel to carry out my plan!" he said, testing out his joints. As the purple glow died off, Jason collapsed to the floor.

Yellow took several steps back.

"Who are you?"

"Excuse me? Isn't it courtesy to tell your own name first, eh Yellow? As for your question, I am the great Cyrus Indigo!" said Kero who had a far more sinister look to him.

"This is no time for jokes!"

"Jokes? This is no joke, my little ninja. Your friend's mind and spirit cannot affect his body now that I am in control. But of course, nobody can know about this, so it's time to meet your maker!"

Yellow shut her eyes and they glowed blue. As she opened them again, she saw the Mana flow of Kero was far different than usual. His intentions were now malevolent, but she could see a small but concentrated portion of good.

"I will fight you to the death if I must!"

* * *

><p><strong>Woop! Three epic battles set up in one chapter!<strong>

**Will Jake triumph over Ninja Green or will he fail?  
>What does Spearhead have to do with Daniel Indigo?<br>Will Ninja Yellow be able to defeat Cyrus Indigo while he is in control of Kero?  
>Who will win the bet, Cruz or Ninja White?<strong>

**Find out next time on...this really isn't funny anymore.**


	23. X2

**This story is now one of the 27 stories over 40k words in the MapleStory category. I am proud.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own MapleStory or its characters (owned by Nexon) except my own OC's.**

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 23: X2<strong>

"I will fight you to the death if I must!" said Yellow.

"Your death, eh?" asked Kero. "Feel the power of the Indigo clan!"

Yellow disappeared as Cyrus launched a chained volley of energy. She reappeared behind him but was elbowed in the gut. She drew her sword and slashed at the possessed warrior, who countered with his own strike. Despite Cyrus' superior sword wielding skills, Yellow had Mana Vision to compensate, though it was significantly harder because of the two sources in one body.

"I know your weakness!" he yelled, as he thought up of revolting mental images for Yellow to see. Expecting her to cancel Mana Vision, he lowered his guard, only to be stabbed by an extremely powerful sword strike. His cursed armour prevented it from actually cutting him, but that was still a close call. Cyrus's spirit momentarily left Kero to punch Yellow and then returned to the body. As Yellow tried to get up, Cyrus held her in place with a field of dark energy and walked up towards her, holding his sword in a stabbing position above him. As he raised his weapon and brought it down on her, a surge of Mana froze him in place, slightly weakening him for a split second. This split second was enough for Yellow to escape the dark field and kick him in the face. Kero spat out some blood and did a jump kick. Yellow stumbled, but stayed on her toes. Kero then grabbed her by the neck and began choking her. The amount of force applied caused five wounds to appear. Yellow began to splutter as Kero launched her across the corridor and into a wall. She stood up again, nauseous from the last attack and spitting out blood. Kero then warped in front of her and tripped her up. He then put one foot on her head and slowly pushed it down.

"You will meet your destiny!" he yelled, crushing her further and causing her to scream.

Out of the blue, a medium-sized dragon soared down the hall with a very angry rider indeed. Spearhead jumped off the dragon and sent a potent kick into Cyrus' head. His fist began to glow with blue embers and he punched his opponent in the gut. Kero fainted as the spirit of Cyrus Indigo rose out of his body.

"What do you want? Why is a criminal protecting a boy? What do you need with him?"

Spearhead ignored Cyrus and slashed him repeatedly with his weapon. As the phantom and the Dark Knight fought, Yellow slowly got up and used Dark Sight to take Kero and flee the battlezone undetected.

* * *

><p>Contrasting purple and green lights soared through the skies as Jake and Green duelled each other at blinding speed. Green's agility was incredible, he was able to avoid even the fastest of attacks. Jake's brute force and his unique energy made the slightest of blows lethal. The two stood in the arena, out of breath.<p>

"Nice...nice. Now tell me...how did you block those attacks?" said Green.

"As if I would tell you of all people."

Green vanished and kicked Jake from behind, knocking him down.

"You know..." said Jake. "They don't call me Madeyeball for nothing!"

He placed a hand on his right eye as his left eye turned purple like it had during several conflicts and his true potential unleashed. As Jake released his hand and the right eye had become pure white, without a pupil or iris. Suddenly, the blue colour of his normal right eye mixed with the purple of his left eye, turning the pupil into a dark blue with the pigment slightly leaking into the purple iris.

"Nice magic show." said Green. "But you're gonna have to do better than that!"

Green disappeared again and attacked Jake, only to be elbowed in the gut.

"Sorry Green. But I can see everything. I might not be able to read thoughts like your friend Yellow, but I can see every tiny movement. With that, I will read your actions before you even reach me."

Jake then kicked Green in the face, jumped into the air and unleashed a fast and furious combo on him. Within seconds, Green was on the floor.

"And the winner is..."

Green disappeared. Nowhere. He wasn't invisible, Jake would see his body heat if he was.

"Where the heck are you?"

As if on cue, Jake was crushed from above as a sonic boom sent dust flying everywhere. He quickly got up and jabbed Green.

"This is an illusion." said the ninja before disappearing in a cloud of smoke. Jake looked up and saw a dozen of Ninja Greens falling from the sky. They all pelted Jake, who put up a barrier. As the audience were hit by sonic booms and dust storms, Jake's barrier began to crack and was hit by one ninja.

"Hyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

Jake stared up again and saw the real Green charge down with a sword. Jake jumped out of the way of the attack just in time. The dust still hadn't cleared, meaning he had the advantage. He quickly ran towards Green and held his sword at neckpoint. After it was possible to see again, Jake was instantly announced the victor.

"Well done Jake. You are a worthy opponent for me, maybe even more so than my comrades. I congratulate you." he said as they shook hands.

"Why do you speak so formally half the time and like an ass the other half?"

"Formality is a sign of respect. We all do it."

"Ah, I understand what thee try to point out."

"Don't be an ass."

* * *

><p>"That was awesome!" said SourPunch as Jake, Sabrina and all four juvenile ninjas sat in the waiting room.<p>

"Trust me, when I beat you it will be much more awesome." said Red.

Sabrina turned around. Then everybody else did. Kero's body was curved and floating.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Hey hey hey, it's just me!" said Ninja Yellow as she made herself visible.

"What were you doing?" asked Green. Jake for some reason gagged SourPunch.

"What the hell are you doing?" asked Blue.

"Trust me, everything that guy says is in some way wrong." said Sabrina.

"Oh..." he replied. Blue looked at Yellow. Then at Kero. Back to Yellow. "Possible."

Yellow used Kero as a projectile to knock Blue off the bench.

"Ow! Bitch." he said, rubbing his head.

Yellow then sat on the bench. "Your friend here got possessed or something. He's lucky. Someone showed up to help him."

SourPunch knocked Jake's hand away.

"Did he..."

"NO SEX JOKES!" snapped Yellow.

"Jeez, calm down."

Just then, Kero got up.

"What happened?"

"Yellow decided to f..." said SourPunch before Jake gagged him again.

A light appeared on the scoreboard.

SABRINA FRIEND (Perion)

VS

ANTHONY POWALSKI (Nautilus)

"About time..." she said, staring in glee at her name.

"Nice. Let's go watch." said Jake. Several agreements were heard and the septet went to see Sabrina's battle.

"How did your fight go?" asked Kero.

"I won. Pretty awesome fight if you ask me."

"Nice. So we're both in the top 32 now!"

"Yeah. The going gets tough, and to be honest I've been lucky."

"Haven't we all?"

"True. Except maybe SourPunch."

* * *

><p>Sabrina's fight was boring. Anthony Powalski was a coward. It took her 10 minutes to land a hit on him, and when she did the guy surrendered. A few minutes after the fight, Dances with Balrog spoke through the intercom.<p>

"We are approaching the end of this tournament. Only thirty two contestants remain. I am proud of everybody who has fought here. Also, the arena will be divided into three sub-arenas instead of the previous five, and one during the quarter finals and above. And now, in 15 minutes, the contest shall begin. A list of the current top 32 is in the waiting room, with current match-ups."

"What are we waiting for?" asked Red. "To the waiting room."

Everybody rushed towards the waiting room.

"C'mon bro! I can't wait to see this!" said Jake.

"Bro...?" asked Kero.

Jake shrugged. "If you want me to call you mate or buddy that's fine. But I prefer bro."

Kero shrugged as well and they caught up with the others.

"Jake!" yelled a girl.

"Watch out!" replied Kero.

Jake was viciously hugged by Sarah. To be honest, he had only been hugged twice like that today, but it was getting on his nerves.

"Get...off...me..." he mumbled.

Kero facepalmed. "I'll go see who you're up against. Have a nice day."

"Hey! Help me out here!"

Kero laughed to himself as Jake dealt with Sarah. As he got to the waiting room, there was a massive commotion. He saw the sixth matchup: Ninja Red VS SourPunch. That he would have to see. Yellow and Sabrina were fighting each other in the seventh matchup. Neat. He scanned from left to right and back and saw his name. He was the first. His opponent: Jake. It took him a moment to realize what he was up against. A challenge indeed.

"Wow. Neat."

Kero turned around. It was Sabrina.

"I'm against Yellow, SourPunch is against Red and you're against Jake."

Kero got the feeling of the obvious being stated.

"Well, I'm gonna get a drink. Wanna come?" he asked.

"Sure, I won't miss my battle."

Kero chuckled. "Always about yourself, eh Sabby?"

"Yep."

The two walked to the cafeteria, which was full because of the excitement over the top 32. Suddenly, a man with a beard and highly adorned clothes held Kero's shoulder. Kero turned around. The man had a long white beard and a small moustache. His robes were crimson and adorned with gold decorations. He looked like he was from Zipagnu, an oriental town off the shores of Ossyria.

"Hey, kiddo. You're in the top, right? We have a...offer. You lose against pirate boy and we'll pay you twenty grand."

"No thanks."

"What!?"

"I'm getting one million if I win." said Kero. Of course this was a lie(Unless Cruz decided not to be a greedy pig) but anything to get the guy away. The guy scowled and walked off and Sabrina came back with an ice tea for herself and lemon soda for Kero.

"Thank's Sab."

There were no more seats, so they went over and leaned against the wall. For most of the time, the two drank in silence.

"Hey Kero. There's something I've wanted to talk about." Her tone was much more serious than before.

"What's that?"

"It's sorta private."

Suddenly, a voice on the intercom burst to life. As it began announcing the battles, Jake arrived. He pat Kero on the back.

"Me VS You. Good luck bro." said Jake.

"Ditto." replied Kero

* * *

><p>Five minutes later, the two stood at opposite ends of the arena holding their blades towards the other. A slight wind blew a small cloud of dust across the arena. There were two more arenas, both with fighters waiting for the beginning.<p>

"Ready?" asked Jake.

"Definitely! En Garde!"

* * *

><p><strong>Epic battle coming up :D School is back so I may not be so regular in my updates.<strong>

**Also, if anyone can guess why the chapter is called X2 then you get a cookie.**


	24. An authors note(No,the story WILL go on)

This story is undergoing a complete rewrite. I started this story almost a year ago and, having read this story **_with a critical eye_** I now see all the flaws I have made, and the things I could improve.

**1.** Depth

This story is INCREDIBLY shallow. Things happen, and then the next things happen. Characters don't have time to develop because there is so much action shoved everywhere. Most stories suffer because they're boring and have little substance. This story has too much worthless substance and any good substance is washed away because nobody cares about the shallow characters.

**2.** Characters

Dear Lord, did I mess up here or what. Kero, SourPunch and Jake (Mad) are the only ones who get any amount of screen time. Sabrina is supposed to be one of the main characters, but she gets almost no role and when she does Kero is usually there to butt in and take the glory (Battle on the Zeppelin! Rematch: Vs Gangsta Magez! is a fine example). A lot of scenes, ESPECIALLY the first fight with the Gangsta Magez are there just to get the plot moving. Sabrina gets blasted to near-death just so that Jake can go super uber kickass mode. Also, this next issue is apparent with Sabrina the most(Yes, Sabrina needs to be completely modified) but a lot of people have completely schizophrenic personalities. Schizophrenic means inconsistent personality-wise. Sabrina is incredibly shy in chapter 1, beats up people at the slightest taunt in chapters 2 through 7 and from there on she gets a bit more consistent, as a slightly arrogant and angry warrior. Jake is the guy who always cracks jokes and says some dirty things(and does some dirty stuff) but as soon as SourPunch enters, he gets that role entirely and Jake becomes a good little boy. In summary, the characters suck. Not because of them, but because of how I portrayed them.

**3.** Jokes

This story has some genuinely funny moments. But the rest them are just corny and just make people roll their eyes.

_"Help! Someone help me!"_

_"I told you to give me some cookies and reindeer milk! But you didn't! So, I shall end your life and take your cookies and milk!" yelled a thief, punching an archer to a pulp._

_"I can understand you needing reindeer milk, but why cookies?" said the victim_

_"Why do you think cookies? They taste good and go down well with milk!" replied the thief, with a definitive blow penetrating the archer's chest._

That cracks me up every time. The lord of ultimate evil killing people just for cookies. The scene below however (And this was from the re-written version, so imagine how bad the original was) is just forced and unless you get the reference, it isn't funny (Even if you do it's pathetic). Also, this is a perfect example of the schizophrenic Sabby.

_"It was Madeyeball because he can detect anything within a 500 meter radius with his left eye. His right eye is more or less worthless."_

_"Nice story bro" said Kero in a mocking tone. "He reminds me of that emo guy from those Japanese ninja comics who had this spinning eye...what was his name? Sask- something."_

_"Kero, watch out! She's a..." Mad yelled. Kero turned around, expecting a Balrog, but instead Sabrina hit him on the head with a chair._

_"Sasuke is NOT an emo!" she yelled in fury._

_"Owww, what was that for?"_

_"I TRIED to warn you that she's a crazy fangirl" Mad said. He received the same chair-to-head treatment. "Hey! Save your fight for the Balrog, not us!"_

This just makes me cringe every time. I'm embarrassed to acknowledge it as part of my story but it is and it's here to prove just how bad it was.

**4.** Plot

A lot of times I had no idea where to take the plot so I just inserted cliffhangers everywhere to move it along. Also, since I just dived in, a lot of characters and plot elements were inserted after their time. Boy was that stupid. So expect the story to take a slight, if not major, change in plot direction.

**5.** Relationships

Yes, this story was going to have romance. Go figure. The thing was I had no idea how to execute it. And by holding it off, I prevented this story from dying before 20k words (Thank goodness). But another thing I screwed up was the platonic relations. You know, friends, family, whatever. For example, I had no idea what to do with Kero and Sabrina so sometimes he's stumbling head-over-heels for her but other times he doesn't seem to give a crap. Another perfect example of schizophrenia.

**6.** Naruto

Do you know how much crap I ripped off Naruto?

-Teams: Naruto features a group of juveniles in teams of 3 with one master. Guess what Warrior Brothers features?  
>-First Gangsta Magez Battle: Zabuza.<br>-Skills: Some custom skills are completely ripped (SourPunch and Mighty titan are a perfect example. Heck, they're even based off Rock Lee and Mighty Guy.)  
>-Dat second job graduation torurnament I didn't finish: Dat Naruto graduation tournament.<br>-Xingshati: Akatsuki. Nuff said.

This just does my head in when I rip off so much stuff (sometimes without even knowing it). Even a crapton of future plot elements are stolen.

**7.** In a nutshell

The story isn't bad, but it isn't good. It's mediocre, and it can be better. While it excels in some places, it falls flat everywhere else. And the thing is, it has potential. So I hope you understand why I'm doing this. Also, since this is going to take forever, check out some of my other stories. Only one is currently in progress (Can't let you brew that StarBucks), but it's probably the funniest one I've ever written. Try comparing the coherent and funny jokes of that to the bland crap I had at the start of this story.


End file.
